MASSIVE CFB Weekend Preview (Hour 1)

Fall is just around the corner and home is the center of it all. At Ashley, seasonal decorating's a breeze with their range of designs and materials. Snuggle up on a family-friendly sectional or an ultra-modern sofa. Or gather outside and enjoy the crisp, cool air with a new fire pit or conversation set. From minor refreshes to total overhauls, Ashley has the essentials to make your home fall functional and fabulous.

Shop in store or visit Ashley.com today. Live from the play show yet not overly ostentatious, studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street. It's a football Friday! In addition to the Zach Gelb show across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app, 855-212-4CBS. Coming up in 20 minutes from now in his weekly betting spot from BetMGM tonight, and Beck QL Ryan Horvat will join us to give us his thoughts on three college football games this weekend, three NFL games this weekend, and also what will be his best bet.

Former college football head coach Mike Sanford is going to stop by. Coming up at the top of the hour. And then at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific, Steelers star linebacker Alex Highsmith will stop by, and in the final hour of the show, Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner will join us. But first up, producing the extravaganza for the next four hours is no other than Hot Take Kiki.

Hot Take Kiki. So this is the first great weekend of college football. Not that the first three weeks weren't good, but this is your first mega weekend of college football. Where there are six, seven, eight games that I plan on watching right at noon Eastern until the final game concludes late at night. You will find me Saturday parked right on the couch, and the only time I will move is to maybe go get an adult beverage, maybe to go get some dinner, and also go to the bathroom.

Outside of that, I'm not moving off that couch on Saturday. And it's one of the rare weekends, and we all love college football, but where it pales into comparison how much better the college football is than the NFL. Like if I ask you for the best NFL games this weekend, what is it, Chargers and Vikings, to see who can't get out of their own way between those two O and two football teams?

We really need to get jacked up over Pats and Jets, Steelers, Raiders, Eagles, Buccaneers, but it's on Monday night, and Rams, Bengals, but I also think that's on Monday night. So you look at those games, and it doesn't mean that it's not going to be a great weekend of NFL, but sometimes, right, when you don't think it's going to be great, it ends up being great. We've seen that in college football. How many times do you hear in the college football season, oh, it's a pedestrian week of games for college football, and then you have some crazy things that happen that are totally out of the realm of what you expected.

But you look at the heavyweights that are playing this weekend, and the big names that are playing this weekend. You have Florida State, a team with national championship aspirations, going up against Clemson, who has won the ACC seven out of the last eight seasons, but Clemson is not the same Clemson as we've seen in recent years, already losing to Duke, where they lost the first game of the season 28-7. You have the biggest story in college football, Coach Prine, Deion Sanders, yes, no Travis Hunter in this game, but you have Shadore Sanders, you have Shiloh Sanders, and that really exciting Colorado team going to Eugene with their biggest test yet in an Oregon football team that is ranked in the top 10, right at number 10, with their quarterback Bo Nix, who when we talked about Bo Nix at Auburn, it was man disappointing. Wow, he's someone that you thought he was going to be a lot better quarterback and ever since going to Oregon, he has just been sensational. Last year, he didn't win the Heisman, he wasn't a Heisman finalist, but he looked like a Heisman Trophy quarterback, and this year he starts off the season.

Yeah, I get it's only three games with eight touchdowns, no interceptions. So that's going to be a fun game to watch to really get an understanding of inside the Pac-12, how good Colorado is with the next two weeks. They're in Eugene, then they're back to Boulder, but they welcome in the reigning Heisman Trophy winner a week from now in Caleb Williams with the USC Trojans. You also have UCLA and Utah.

It's expected that Cam Rising is going to make his return. And I say this all the time that the most disrespected and not talked about conference champion a long time was the Big 12 champ this past year that used to go to the playoff and it was Kansas State with Chris Kleiman that won that Big 12 championship. But you look at Utah, they're a team that needs more respect.

And Brady Quinn even said it with us earlier in the week. Like you look around the Pac-12, right? You talk about Washington, you talk about Oregon, you talk about USC, you talk about Colorado, the list goes on and on and on.

In order to be the champs, you got to beat the champs. And Utah didn't only win the Pac-12 championship last year, they won it to the year before that. So two consecutive seasons with Utah going the distance and winning the Pac-12 championship. And you look at Utah, I've said this numerous times that Kyle Whittingham is a top 10 coach in college football. Kyle Whittingham is one of the more underrated coaches in the game and also his program is extremely underrated. You could say what you want about Florida and Baylor and where they're currently at. And Florida just put a number up on Tennessee this past weekend. But Utah, without their quarterback, who a big reason, right? He has the ACL injury, but even before that injury in the Rose Bowl, we had Kyle Whittingham on the show and he's talking about if Cam Rising comes back, we're going to make a big Heisman push for him.

And Cam Rising in the last two years has been a rock star. And the first three games of the season, they've been without their quarterback and they found a way to get the job done up against Florida. They found a way to get the job done up against Baylor and then Weber State as well. You know, we're not going to give them too much credit for that victory. But without your quarterback to be 3-0 and now you're expected to get them back up against UCLA.

Hello. The Utes showed how great of a team they are defensively two weeks ago and now it looks like they're on the verge of getting their star quarterback back into the lineup. Ole Miss and Alabama, big buzz on this game. You look at this Ole Miss team, Lane Kiffin has done a good job at Ole Miss. Some thought he was going to take the Auburn job. And here comes Alabama for the first time in a long time where people have questioned them.

People have been stupid trying to predict when the dynasty is going to end. But what we saw up against Texas and then how Alabama followed it up by playing quarterback roulette and barely getting any points on the board up against USF with South Florida. Now you're going back to Jalen Milro and there's going to be immediate intrigue on what type of offensive performance the Alabama Crimson Tide is going to put up because you know Ole Miss will score points in this game.

Oregon State and Washington State. You have DJ Uwe Young and him trying to put his stamp back on the sport after he was supposed to be that guy when he was at Clemson. Now he's transferred over to Oregon State. Their defense is very underrated. Jonathan Smith, the former quarterback at Oregon State and they're going into Pullman and we know it's always tough up against another top 25 team in the Pac-12 in Washington State where they've been a team that we know they could put up a lot of points. And then of course, at night, you have Hickey's Penn State Nittany Lions hosting Iowa. I know the Penn State fam will probably try to tell you that this game is a bigger game than what it actually is. For me, when I look at Penn State, the only games that are going to make me say ooh and ah about this program this year is when they go up against Ohio State and also when they go up against Michigan. Every other game before those two games should be wins and should be wins going away for the Penn State Nittany Lions. And then it leads us to some may say the biggest game of the weekend.

Two top 10 teams in the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Irish was Sam Hartman coming over for Wake Forest. He's been the real deal.

We all knew what he was capable of. Now at a much bigger school and getting more praise, he could make a big stamp on the college football landscape about throwing himself into the Heisman Trophy campaign. Also, the same could potentially be said for Audric Estime. I know it's an extra game, but if you look at the way that Ohio State has been beat the last few years up against Michigan twice, it's with a dominant offensive line where you just beat the snot out of the Buckeyes in the trenches. And then you have a dominant running back.

And Audric Estime is more than capable of going for $1.50 and two touchdowns on Saturday. And on the flip side of that, this Ohio State team where the last two years, we know that in the entire tenure of Ryan Day, they've only lost six games. But the last two years, even after last year, losing to Michigan back to back years, they still found a way to get to college football playoffs, should have beat Georgia, didn't get the job done. And then Georgia goes on to advance the national championship game, beat TCU and go back to back and be undefeated. You look though at this Ohio State team, this is a big statement for them early on, where McCord up until last week has not been a rock star.

We know the two wide receivers that they have. And I'm really curious to see with Ohio State, how much progress have they made for the last two years? Because the way that I'll describe Notre Dame, I don't mean this as disrespect, but they kind of remind me of Michigan the last two years like Michigan light. So this is maybe a big test where Notre Dame could absolutely win the football game and I plus them early in the week on the three and a half point spread the Fighting Irish. But for Ohio State, we're going to see how much progress that they made even before you get to Thanksgiving weekend, because this is a good test to see how much different that team truly is from the team the last two years, because you would think it doesn't always go this way. But if Michigan is better than Notre Dame, you can't beat Notre Dame in a similar style, then you would imagine it would be more of the same old that we've seen the last two years when Ohio State goes up against Michigan at the end of the year, it ends up being a big win for Jim Harbaugh, like it's been the last two years. So just look at those games. And those are just 1234567 games that I go through. And those all feel like big time showdowns, where there's palpable buzz, and we're expected to have a kick ass weekend of college football.

Hickey, let me ask you this. When you look at all these games, I know the answer may change throughout the week. And we've been talking about all these games throughout the week. What's the one game where take the Penn State cap off for a second? Because I don't want to hear Hickey say almost fired up for Penn State, Iowa. Tell me which game out of these monster marquee games that you're most excited for and what you're looking for in the game.

Can I hate to do this? Can I say a tie? There are two games I'm very intrigued because I want to see the legitimacy of both. All right, let me ask you this. Is one of the games Florida State Clemson? No.

Okay, then go ahead. Because my game is Florida State Clemson. I'll give you the reason why in just a second, but I want to hear your two games in first. Obviously, look, Ohio State, Notre Dame, massive one. Ohio State comes in with questions for the first time in a long time and comes in with questions before the Michigan game for the first time in a long time. And for Notre Dame, it's always kind of, you know, the question hanging over their head. How can they win the big one? Can they finally get over the hump here? I know it's the regular season, not the playoff, but still, can you win a big regular season game?

So that's what I'm excited to see because both can show the legitimacy or lack thereof here early on in the season. And Ole Miss, Alabama. Alabama right now is a wounded dunk.

This is the most vulnerable they have been in easily 15 years. And if you are Lane Kiffin, who has made no secret about wanting to beat Nick Saban, you go into his house, this is maybe the best chance you'll have in your career to beat your former mentor. And if you lose on Saturday, honestly, I love Lane. I love Ole Miss.

I'm picking them to win. I don't want to hear about them again. I don't want to hear about it. Oh, no. This is the year.

No, no, no, no, no. Now or never. So this is your chance here, and I want to see if Ole Miss is, not that I'm saying they're a national title contender if they win the game, but this is a game where you just have to win just for anything else to be taken seriously, not be looked at as a joke. The number one thing that I'm looking forward to this weekend, and I implore the sports gods that this happens, I want to see Florida State just drag Clemson up and down the field. And for one reason and one reason only, Dabo Swinney has become insufferable, where Dabo Swinney is not willing to adapt in the year of 2023, and it's costing his program, a program that he built up, a program that he made to be a force and made to be great. And for whatever the reasons are, and I think it's because of arrogance, Dabo Swinney has not adapted to NIL, he's just made fun of it.

And also, he's refused to utilize the transfer portal. And here you come with Mike Norvell, who has embraced NIL, has embraced the transfer portal, and you have a Florida State team that is better than Clemson. Florida State must, must, must, must, must put the nail in the coffin and hammer it shut this weekend on the Clemson Great Rain that we've seen for the last decade. Seven out of the last eight years, Clemson has won the ACC.

They are vulnerable. They lost to Duke, and then you heard from Dabo Swinney, oh well we threw for 200 yards, we ran for 200 yards, we keep on doing that, we'll win all of our games the rest of the season. Dabo Swinney doesn't take accountability, Dabo Swinney doesn't admit when his team doesn't play well, and I hope Mike Norvell, who's done a heck of a job at Florida State, beat the snot out of LSU to open up the season, just destroys with Jordan Travis, Jared Verse, this Clemson Tigers program. It has nothing to do with Kate Klugnick, I like him, it has nothing to do with Will Shipley, I like him, but I want to see Dabo go down this weekend and not only go down, I want Florida State to walk into their house, put their feet up, and open up a beer, have a good time, throw a party, and drag the Clemson Tigers up and down the field from end zone to end zone. That's what I'm most looking forward to this weekend when I tune into college football, and I just really, really, really hope, and I'm not even a Florida State fan, but I really hope Florida State takes care of business just because of how obnoxious Dabo Swinney has become. What are you most excited for, for college football this weekend?

855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. We will take a break. When we come on back, we will do a little betting outlook, and we'll get some predictions this weekend with BetMGM, tonight's very own Ryan Horvat. Facts are facts, like how contributing to employees' financial security makes them want to work harder for their company. In fact, according to a 2023 study by Principal, 87% of employers say that better employee financial security means employees are more engaged and productive at work. The fact of the matter is that employees want to feel financially secure in their future, so consider this. Principal helps you invest in your employees by providing customized benefits and retirement plans to help keep your employees more engaged and productive. When you take care of your team, they take care of business.

That's a fact. Learn how Principal can help you find the right benefits and retirement plan for your team at principal.com slash benefits. Products and services offered by member companies of the Principal Financial Group, Des Moines, Iowa. For important information, visit principal.com slash disclosures.

Walk the dogs, school drop-off, meetings from 10 to 3, take kids to soccer, then no time left for a jog. When everyone else is relying on you, it's easy to put your needs last. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist online so you can show up for yourself the way you do for others. Visit betterhelp.com slash positive to get 10% off your first month.

That's betterhelp.com slash positive. I'm here to tell you about Pom Pom at Home, where comfort meets elegance. Pom Pom at Home is offering 20% off site-wide for a limited time. See why so many of the top designers use Pom Pom's luxury easy care bedding.

They have created a timeless, beautiful, coastal living look that incorporates subtle tones and natural fibers, offering a unique touch. Create your dream bed now. Get 20% off sheets, duvets, throws, and more right now at pompomathome.com.

Easy to use, easy to love luxury bedding. Just enter code POMPOM at checkout. You did it, along with millions of people who prioritize their health and got vaccinated against COVID-19 to help protect against severe illness and hospitalization too. Now let's keep it up. With this season's updated COVID-19 shot designed to help protect against recent variants. According to the CDC, you can get a COVID shot at the same visit as your flu shot if you're due for both.

Ask your doctor or pharmacist to learn more and schedule on the CDC's vaccines.gov. Keep it up. Sponsored by Pfizer and BioNTech.

You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. This is the best play to college football I think that we're going to get this season. And the NFL slate, it's funny because you look at these numbers, the NFL slate kind of looks like the college slate. A lot of double-digit spread.

You know, totals that are being hit right now with the weather coming to the East Coast, but I can't wait to get going, man. So, one thing I want to see this weekend, and I just went on a rant, I can't stand Dabo Swinney. I think in the last year or two he's failed the Clemson program because he's not willing to adapt. You have a Florida State team that could really put the nail in the coffin for Clemson if they start off the year 2-2 and lose to Duke and Florida State. The Seminoles are only a two-point favorite. That's the only thing that gives me a little cause for concern, but I've already laid the two points to two and a half points with Florida State. How confident are you that Florida State takes care of business on Saturday at noon Eastern?

Alright, so I'm betting against both of my teams this weekend. Half my family out in Tallahassee. My uncle was the coach at TCC Tallahassee Community College for a couple years there, so they've been giving me a hard time. I actually like Clemson. Game of the Year is that Clemson was a two and a half point favorite. They lay an egg against Duke, and I get it, but it was the first game and a new offense.

You know, Cade Klubnick's now the guy. It's the Garrett Riley offense. It's supposed to be, but yet they ran the Clemson offense. There was a bunch of red zone goal line turnovers. It was a flukey game. Plus, Duke's for real.

Mike Elko's doing a really good job. See, I just think this is a sleepy spot for Florida State. Again, it's the second straight week where they have to play a noon game, and last week they barely got past Boston College, and I know there was a lot of stuff going on. They were dealing with a flu bug in their locker room.

They were prepared to play in rain and windy conditions. Jordan Travis got hurt, but again, the offense didn't put together a full four quarters. They didn't score in the final 17 minutes of the game. They almost had their season ended by Boston College, who almost lost to Holy Cross, and Clemson's defense is a big step up in class.

You know, I know they've been a little bit of a disappointment. I know the offense hasn't looked great just yet for Clemson, but I think they're alive in this spot, and if they lose, like you said, Davo is now under fire. That's two losses in conference, and we're not even into October yet, so pressures on Clemson in this game, I think they get it done, unfortunately, but I hope I'm wrong.

I'm sick. That's the one game I hope you're wrong on this weekend. Let's go 3.30 p.m. Eastern. The team that everyone's talking about the most, Colorado with their biggest task yet, going to Eugene, Oregon to square off against Dan Lanning and Bo Nix. Right now, Oregon is a 21-point favorite, is the smart play to plus the 21 here and continue to ride Coach Prime in the Colorado Buffaloes.

So this is the one that I've been waiting for, the spot that I've been waiting for to fade Colorado. Unfortunately, I did it with Nebraska. That was a big, big letdown, and then I did it again last week with Colorado State. Colorado State actually should have won that game on the road.

They committed, I believe, 17 penalties for like 185 yards, but you know, the problem is the market caught on. They were like, hey, smart guys, we know you're waiting to fade Colorado. Maybe we have to wait until next week with USC.

I laid it with Oregon here. It's just, you know, Colorado, the reason that they've over-exceeded expectations, they're a 3.5-win projected team, is because the starters are all 4 and 5 stars, right? I mean, they have a bunch of talent. The problem is they just don't have a lot of depth.

The depth behind the starters, behind the Travis Hunters, who's hurt now for the next couple weeks, are the guys that were on the 5 and 21 teams the last couple of years. So, I just think this is a huge step up in class. What I'm going to do is I'm going to lay the first half. Unfortunately, we missed the number. It opened at 11 and a half.

It's out to 13, 13 and a half in some shops. Rather than worry about a backdoor cover, because you know Deion's going to have those guys motivated to cover that number, because he's been really quiet this week. Meanwhile, Dan Lanning's been kind of running his mouth. Really? Has Dan Lanning?

We had him on last night. I thought he was keeping it close to the vest here. I'll tell you this, he's not really running his mouth, and I'm the biggest Dan Lanning fan. A couple weeks ago, he said Colorado, what have they ever won? Yeah, he's not wrong. Right, everybody's talking about Colorado.

Here's the thing, man. This is going to be the most watched game. Even though we have Notre Dame, Ohio State in primetime on 4K, this is going to be the most watched game.

Playing Colorado right now, that's the biggest spot in college football. I don't think the pressure's on Coach Prime. He's not expected to win this year. He's expected to win maybe in two or three years. We'll see how long he even sticks around. The pressure's on Dan Lanning, because the Pac-12's loaded.

It's year two. Year two coaches at Oregon always win double-pitch at games. Yeah, they're 21.5 points favorites. I think the pressure's actually on Oregon in this spot, and I think they're going to be extra motivated in this game. Also, just on paper, football matchup, I don't know how you stop Bo Nix with Colorado's defense.

Are you able to get home 3-4, guys? Or are you going to have to send a blitz? If you send a blitz, I think Bo Nix is going to pick you apart. On the offensive side of the ball for Colorado, losing Travis Hunter is huge. You could say he's only worth a point to the market because he's a wide receiver or a DB. But he's playing 126.5, and he's their best player. I think he's their most important player.

I like Oregon in the first half, and I do like him a little bit in the full game as well. Coach Prime, if you're listening, I just want it to be known that I am a believer, so I did plus the 21 points with Colorado. That is Ryan Horvat, who's a non-believer, so go after him. I saw how he was coming after Danny Connell. I do not want that. Coach Prime, I am a believer.

Doesn't sound that way. Just not this week against the Ducks. Don't do that to me. Ohio State, Notre Dame, it's now the Buckeyes by three points. My big thought on this game is I've seen how Ohio State has lost the last two years to Michigan. It's because Michigan beat the crap out of them inside the trenches, and they had a big time running back.

Really, two with Blake Corman and Donovan Edwards. You look at Notre Dame, they have a big time offensive line. They have Audra Gastime and a really good quarterback in Sam Hartman. Do you like the Fighting Irish this weekend? I'm a Homer because I'm a Notre Dame fan, and I did bet them game of the year because the number was seven, and I thought they were a little bit better than everybody was projecting them to be.

I'm a big Sam Hartman guy. This is your game of the year? For me, game of the year bet comes out in the summer, and you can bet a couple of the games. You can look ahead in numbers. Everybody always gives me a hard time because everybody's worried about the baseball season.

Usually we're in the NBA Finals. I'm betting college football games of the year just because these numbers aren't going to be there anymore. Notre Dame was actually a one-time. I didn't get the best number.

It was a seven-and-a-half point dog. They're a little bit better than projected, obviously, with Sam Hartman taking over. The reason I like Sam Hartman, I loved him at Wake Forest. Look at that offense. I like the mesh offense that they run there, but now he's playing behind a better offensive line. He has a real run game. Audra Gastime is the best running back in the country right now. He's running guys over six yards after initial contact, but that's the thing nobody's talking about.

Estimate has been great, but a lot of it is coming after contact. Notre Dame's offensive line at times has been pushed around. Joe Outt is awesome, their tackle.

On the other side, Fisher's lost a bunch of weight and just doesn't look like the same player. I'm worried about the interior of the offensive line getting pushed around a little bit. Ohio State has really good edge rushers.

Sawyer's really good. I think he's going to be probably a first-round pick. That defense, that's the matchup nobody's talking about. Everybody's worried about Kyle McCord. He can't push the ball down the field. I think I'm throwing 20 or more yards down the field.

He's 11 for 29, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense because he has probably the best wide-receiver room in the country. I don't think the matchup's going to come down to McCord versus Hartman or which offense is better. I think it's going to come down to the battle in the trenches, and that's what worries me a little bit about Notre Dame. Now that we're at three, I unfortunately think Ohio State wins the game.

Again, I'm bitter. Notre Dame hasn't beat them since 1936. I was at one of these matchups. The other thing that nobody's talking about, a couple smart people have been talking about it, being a fan. Every time they play in one of these games against one of these Midwest teams, you would figure Notre Dame fans are going to be there. It's going to be loud. It's primetime. Oh, that would be a lot of Ohio State fans. Yeah. Ticket sales, 40 percent of the ticket sales are going to be Buckeye fans.

They travel very well. That's going to be like a 50-50 crowd on Saturday night. I think Ohio State wins, unfortunately. I think the real bet, though, is the under in the game. I think it's going to be a low-scoring game.

Alrighty. I'll chop off one NFL game. I want to give you one more college because, like you said, it's a monster slate, and the college slate is so much better than the NFL slate this weekend on paper.

Ryan Horvat here with us. Ole Miss, Alabama. Do you like the over 55-and-a-half? Alabama is a 6-and-a-half point favorite. I saw that number, I think, opened up at Alabama by seven, so it's down by a half point.

Your favorite play in this game is what? So now that we're under a touchdown, I'm staying away from the total because I don't know what to do right there, but I would lean over. I think we get some points, but I think this is going to be a big Tommy Reese game, right? If we get under a touchdown here, which we're at right now, I like Alabama on this spot. I mean, you look at Ole Miss, and they're undefeated right now, but Jackson Dart right now is their offense. He's their leading rusher. He is a little bit better as a quarterback. He's number 11 right now, I believe, in QBR, but I don't know that they're going to be able to run the ball against Alabama, and I know the Alabama quarterback situation is a mess.

They go back to Jalen Milro. I think this is a big Tommy Reese game, man, because Tommy Reese, for whatever reason, is trying to run the Jalen offense, the Alabama Tua offense. I think what he needs to do is run the Jalen Milro offense, which is quarterback-designed runs. For whatever reason, they've only called five the first three games, and he's averaging 9.2 yards per carry on those runs.

So, I think that's what they need to do. They need to make this a Jalen Milro game, get him out in space, and then, I love Lane, but I think he may have poked the bear. So, you're giving me Alabama when everybody's done with them under a touchdown. I'm going to buy a little one last time, and if I'm wrong, I talked about it with Dabo, two losses, and we're in September. What if Saban has two losses?

We know he's fine, but everybody else on that coaching staff might be in some big trouble, man. Alrighty, I think this is the most fascinating game on the NFL slate this weekend, Ryan Horvat, because for some reason, maybe I should bet this, that it will end in a tie. It wouldn't shock me if it did, between the Chargers and the Vikings. Two fan bases out of the Vikings have a fan base. The Chargers really don't, ever since they've moved to L.A. But both of these teams have just been absolutely miserable right out of the gate.

Minnesota, it's basically a pick-up. They're a one-point favorite. Who wins the game between the Chargers and Vikings? Man, so it looks like Minnesota should be the play here, because the number doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, because the Chargers were three-point favorites against the Dolphins week one, and then three-point road favorites against the Titans week two.

Now we're supposed to believe that their one-point dogs are a pick against the Vikings, and I know the Vikings, like you said, that's a tough place to play. The offense on paper looks great, but even the passing game's struggling a little bit right now. Justin Jefferson doesn't have a touchdown yet. Jordan Edison's look really good as a rookie, I know, and JJ's putting up the numbers, but they still have no run game, man.

So bad they had to call up Cam Akers. And I don't know how good he's going to be in that offensive system, especially if he does give it a go coming up this weekend. Vikings defense, terrible. Chargers pass defense for whatever reason, terrible. I think this is a huge game for Brandon Staley. They start 0-3, and the offense has been fine.

The problem is the first three quarters, they're number four in EPA. Yeah, but in the fourth quarter, Herbert's kind of like falling apart. They're running the ball too much, and the defense, with all that money they spent, has been a mess.

They're getting after the quarterback, the secondary's just been a mess. You can't let Ryan Tannehill go 11 for 13 outside the numbers to his wide receivers. I get it week one against two in that offense, but I'm going to buy in one last time with the Chargers. I just can't do it with the Vikings, man. I can see the Vikings starting 0-4, maybe even looking to move Kirk Cousins before next year so you get something in return.

If there's an offer out there, and people can make it happen financially, but I just think this number is crazy. So I've got to take the Chargers one last time. Way too much talent in that team. When I look at the Panthers and Seahawks, Bryce Young is out, and then you look at the Seahawks, they have no offensive line.

All their guys are banged up. Seattle's a 5.5 point favorite. The over-under is 42.

What's a better play? Do you plus the points with the Panthers? Do you lay them with the Seahawks?

Or do you just hammer the under of 42? So here's what I bet, and I usually don't bet favorites over 3.5 points, but in the right situation I do. Last night I liked San Francisco even at 10.5. But in this spot I do like Seattle. I know the offensive line is shaky. The defense is still young, but I think they're going to click here in a couple weeks. I was worried about Seattle because I was high on them coming into the season in the West like most of us were, and they didn't look very good. They get upset by the Rams. Defense was shaky.

Gino looked like maybe he was going to go back to being a pumpkin. Then last week, that was a huge win against the Lions, and now I really like them in this spot here. Like, Carolina, I bet them on Monday night as 3 point dogs.

I never want to do that ever again. You know, Bryce, out the next couple weeks. You got Dalton stepping in. I can't do it with the Panthers. They can run the ball.

They're tough enough defensively, but I like Seattle to win this game. And also, Miles Sanders is so overrated. He was not as good as people thought he was just because he had a really good year last year in Philadelphia. They gave up on him in the postseason. You don't have the offensive line that you had in Philly. And no more Nick Sirianni and also Shane Stike, even though Frank Reich gets the tag of a decent coach in the NFL. Probably better than what I think.

Let me ask you one final thing. Your favorite NFL play, if it's an anytime touchdown, over, under, spread, first half, total, whatever. What's your favorite NFL play this weekend?

I actually found a prop that I really like, and it's my favorite. It's Brian Robinson for the commanders. Under 14 and a half yards, longest rush. I like Brian Robinson. He's not a three-down back, though. He's more of your goal line, tough yardage back. They're using him a little bit different this season, but I found that longest rush under 14 and a half.

There's really good prices out on that one, so I do like that. And you know what? I went back and forth on this one. I'm taking Green Bay.

I am not fooled on the same. Defensively, we know what they are. They're going to be a top five, top ten unit. But offensively, and I know everybody was high on the Derek Carr pickup, but I just haven't seen it. Maybe things change when Kamara gets there. Mike Thomas is still fine.

I really, really like Chris Alave. I think Green Bay is better than people are talking about. Obviously, you worry about the run game, but I don't think that's going to kill them this week, and that's still a really good pass defense. And offensively, you look like you get Christian Watson back. You get Aaron Jones back, which is huge, man, because I'm so done with the A.J.

Dillon experiment. 17 carries for 19 yards. He looks like Mike Allstop, but he runs like Warwick. So Aaron Jones is 175 pounds.

He runs harder than A.J. Dillon. So I like Green Bay to bounce back after that loss to Atlanta. I actually like them at home against the Saints.

I'm not sold on New Orleans this year. He is Ryan Horvath from BetMGM tonight. You can also catch him out on Saturday mornings getting you ready for all the college football games on the BetQL network. Ryan, we'll do it again next week. Thank you. Zach, thanks so much. Because you're a friend, UCLA, if we get to seven, is Cam Rising play.

They're going to win that game. It's the Dante Moore coming out party. Okay. I'll jot it down. I'm a big fan of the Utes, but if you're trying to get me some free money, then I'll have to listen. There he is, Ryan Horvath joining us on CBS Sports Radio. And that's how you know you are paid to give out information on betting games. I have no clue if what he said is actually going to hit. But Hickey, just being able to find the under longest rush in the game for Brian Robinson Jr. and it being, what do you say, like 14 or 14 and a half is a crazy thing that shouldn't surprise you that you could be able to bet on that. But that is actually something that you could bet on.

And how he found that and researched that with all the information that he gets himself and then also gets from other people. That was maybe one of the craziest bets I think I've heard in a while. Ryan is a man of value and it shows. And you know what? I think he agreed with a lot of what you've been saying and the way that you've been feeling in the college football world.

But man, now I feel like I'm on an island. Some of the way that I'm thinking about these games this weekend where Hickey and Horvath, the Ryans are teaming up and they're going up against Zach Gelb. I don't like it. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

What is Brock Purdy as a quarterback? We'll discuss that on the other side. But yeah, let's play this Minshew Cat or whatever on Sunday. No way! Actually, I find that kind of difficult. But selling your car to Carvana is as easy as can be. Visit Carvana.com or download the app to get an instant offer today. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Man, you can think of O'Reilly Auto Parts for all your car care needs.

Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Brock Purdy rocking out with his Brock out once again. Looking pretty awesome. And going back to last year when he started and finished seven games and won them all. And then to start off this year, the San Francisco 49ers are 3-0 after the ass-kicking they gave to the New York Giants last night. I know the final score probably doesn't reflect truly how the game did play out. It was 30-12. I think I said last night I thought it was going to be 34-10 or 34-13.

And that first half, it was sloppy. It wasn't the cleanest football game, but when you win 30-12, you can't take anything away from the 49ers. And I told you this, that going into the game last night, everyone would be saying tomorrow the 49ers are the best team in the NFL. And the conversation has now shifted to what is Brock Purdy as a quarterback. If you look at the stats last night, Brock Purdy goes 25-37, 310 yards, two touchdowns, had a really nice touchdown pass to Deebo Samuel who made a heck of a catch. Ronnie Bell gets the opening TD snag right out of the gate.

You had a strong performance on the ground. Even though McCaffrey only had 85 yards in the game, that's all he needed, but he got into the end zone too. And you look at this 49ers teams, there's not many flaws with this football team and we wondered going into the season what Brock Purdy was as a quarterback. And right now, I'm not telling you the 49ers are going to Super Bowl, I'm not telling you they're going to win the Super Bowl, they could clearly do that.

I picked the Eagles before the year to get to the Super Bowl out of the NFC and I'll stick by that and write the three best teams in the NFC. Eagles, 49ers, Cowboys, order it however you may want, but you look at Brock Purdy, I wonder how people will talk about him moving forward because I don't know what his ceiling is, I don't know how great he could be compared to the other quarterbacks in the league, but that doesn't matter, it's the system that he's in. And you look at the team that's in front of him, yes you still have to make the throws, yes you still have to play well, but last night, no Brandon Ayuk, no problem when you still have Kittle. And you got Samuel, and you got Christian McCaffrey as well, and you see Ronnie Bell get into the end zone.

There's just so many weapons for this team, all the Niners need is Brock Purdy to be a game manager and they'll be right in it. Now ultimately in a Super Bowl, you got to go make a clutch throw, like Jimmy G was considered to be a game manager, Jimmy G was someone that his biggest problem was he couldn't stay healthy, but ultimately in that Super Bowl, up against the Kansas City Chiefs, sure he outplayed Patrick Mahomes for the first three quarters, but in the fourth quarter, yes you could blame the defense for blowing a 10 point lead, but when there were moments for the quarterback to go step up and make big plays, it was Chris Jones, big mitt, knocking down the ball at the line of scrimmage. Or, who was the wide receiver in that game?

Oh, we talked to him once. Was it Emmanuel Sanders? It was Emmanuel Sanders, thank you.

It was Emmanuel Sanders who's wide open, and it was an overthrow by Jimmy Garoppolo. So you look at Brock Purdy, he still needs to go make that timely throw in a big game, but right now, if you tell me that all you need out of Brock Purdy is to be a game manager for this team to go to the way that we think they could be and be the force that we think they could be and be a Super Bowl champion, which had been so close the last few years, there's no doubt about it in my mind that Brock Purdy, bare minimum, is more than capable of being a game manager, and that's what we've seen through the first three weeks of the season, where it's not always clean, right? The Steelers game was a great first half, the Rams game, they started to pull away late, and the Giants game at halftime once you had that lead, and I know it ends up, what, 17 to 12 at one point, it looked like it was a game, but you never felt like it was a game as well, but this guy, Brock Purdy, if all you're asking him to do, bare minimum, is be a game manager, you feel like he's going to have a shot to take the Niners back to the promised land, he's definitely showed you, even though it's a small sample size of seven games last year and three games this year, in games that he starts and finishes, the guy still has not lost. Without a doubt, yeah, I mean, the guy's a winner, it's very Tom Brady-like, in the sense that there's not one physical thing you can point to that says, oh, that's why he's so great, he knows where to go with the ball, good timing, good accuracy, smart reads defenses, does not panic, everything you could want, aligned with having great players around you in a tremendous Kyle Shanahan-led system, part of the reason why last year there was no panic when Jimmy G went out and he stepped right in and they kept winning. Yeah, and I understand that players in the locker room, that they could say they believe in a quarterback, like, for example, you look at the Jets, we all know the Jets don't believe in Zach Wilson, they're all going to tell you last week and this week that they believe in Zach Wilson to get the job done, so when you had 49ers, players so adamantly say that last year, it was like, okay, yeah, it's easy to say when you're winning, let's see what happens when you hit some adversity. It's still wild, though, that we haven't seen any adversity hit and even though I hated the response by the 49ers and all the players that were whining this offseason, that they would have destroyed the Eagles and, you know, it's well documented how I got into it with Deebo Samuel over that, my biggest point of contention was that it's not thinking you could win the game, it was that you would have blown out a team that didn't get blown out one time last year in the Philadelphia Eagles, but to hear that response and to hear how those guys after, what, five or seven games, whatever the numbers were of Brock Purdy playing last year felt when their quarterback went down, it shows you that the belief was there and this offseason, to no surprise, Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch, they were like, alrighty, tough luck if we get a little backlash from the whole Trey Lance situation, we move mountains to go get him. Eventually, they did find what they thought was their guy and it ended up being the final pick in the draft last year and it just shows you that this organization really believes in Brock Purdy, he still has to show it throughout the rest of the season and, you know, maybe in three, four years from now, if he's still their quarterback, he takes it to a different level where we start to talk about him, oh, maybe he's a top ten quarterback, maybe, you know, he's like a top seven or a top eight quarterback in the league, but right now, they don't need him to be that. They just need him to be a game manager, they need him to be a point guard in basketball, distribute the ball to all the weapons that you have, run CMC, Kittle, Debo, IU when he comes back and on and on and on and on and you just need to manage the game and when it gets late in the game and you ultimately have a tough opponent, you just got to make sure that you could push the ball over the goal line and we'll see if Brock Purdy could do that, but so far, this team believes in him, they're not asking him to be Superman and he's, I don't want to say aced every test, but he's got the job done where you walk away, where he starts and finish, they still have not lost the game. And right now, there's no real formula to slow him down. The Giants blitz, I think it was 33 of the 39, I think it was, drop backs he had. Basically, 80% of the drop backs, 90% of the drop backs he had, they blitzed 300 yards, no problem.

It's really tough to defend him in part because he knows what he's doing. And here's where you're going to see the test. And I want to see if they could overcome some adversity, I have no reason to believe that they can't. They play Dallas in a few weeks, good game. Assuming Cincinnati gets back going in the right direction, they play them on October 29th. They have Jacksonville coming out of a bye in Jacksonville. They play the Eagles, then they obviously go up against the Seattle Seahawks, being in their division twice. You go Seattle, at Philly, or you're at Seattle on a Thursday night, then a Sunday at Philadelphia, 4.25pm Eastern. And then you're back at Santa Clara, going up against the Seahawks, 4 or 5pm Eastern on December 10th. So you have some stretches here where you get some good opponents, you play the Ravens later in the season, and when you go up against those better opponents, it's alright, we all know you have the talent, but will Brock go make a big game-winning throw to give you the victory?