This Is Sparta(ns) (Hour 4)

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. At 24 monthly bill credits plus tax for well-qualified customers. Contact us before canceling account to continue bill credits or credit stop and balance on a required finance agreement due.

One-year upgrade requires financing, qualifying, device and upgrading in good condition after six months with half paid off. That's right, fourth and final hour in a Thursday edition Zach Gelb show, CBS Sports Radio. So we know Mel Tucker is out as the Michigan State head coach, a massive fall from grace. And now the questions start to turn into who is Michigan State going to look to to try to bring in that new era for the Spartans to continue their football program. We know they're willing to make the financial commitment with how much money they quickly gave and doubled down on with Mel Tucker after that one big season. But with now him out as the head football coach, alrighty, you go through the rest of the season and then in what, early December or even at some point in November, you end up naming a new head football coach and you go through that process.

And you got to see as well if there's someone on the market that is a coordinator, okay, it's easier to go hire them. But if they're a current football coach, sure. If they're a head football coach, they can leave their program. But if that team's in a big game or something like that, a college football playoff or a bowl game, like whatever it may be, if let's say it's a smaller school getting to a college football playoff, which probably won't be the case this year. Then, you know, you're going to have to hold out and wait for your guy if that's truly the guy that you want as the next head coach.

So let's do this right now, Hickey. Let's draft the next Michigan State head football coach and let's do this in terms of the guy doesn't necessarily is going to get the job. You know, I think it has to be realistic to some capacity. Like, don't tell me, oh, go call Nick Saban and try to get a reunion with Nick Saban. That's not going to happen. But at least be willing to somewhat make a case for the person, even if you don't think they're going to get the job.

Like, if you were the A.D., who would be the first person that you would be calling? And I don't know why, Hickey. But when I set it up that way, you had like a devilish smile to you.

Did you not like the way that I set that up? No, I'm laughing because you said, oh, well, don't say Nick Saban because that's idiotic. And I'm saying to myself, there's a few Alabama fans out there that say, take him, he's done. I could hear the screams now from Tuscaloosa, especially if they lose on Saturday.

But again, small minority, vocal minority, but that was just me laughing myself. 855-2124CBS. Now joining us on the show is Pee Wee. Pee Wee, you want Nick Saban out? You want him as the next head football coach with the Michigan State Spartans. Oh, sorry.

Pee Wee just left us, going to call back coach on his personal line once again. Alright, you want me to go first or you want to go first here? I'll give you the choice. Sure, the floor is yours. Alrighty.

Oh, it's very nice of you. I feel like I am going to return that favor, not automatically give you the first selection. But heads or tails here? I have a dime in my wallet right now. Let's go heads. Alrighty.

It is tails, so I will go first here. I'm going to go, I don't think he's going to take this job because I think he would hold out for a bigger job. But if you need to call someone right now or, you know, in November, December, the hottest name in college football right now is Deion Sanders. Old school coach, but knows how to coach in a new school era of name imaging like this in the transfer portal. Colorado last year was a one-win football team.

They were an absolute disgrace. In one off-season, Deion Sanders is able to walk in and make them the biggest story for the first three to four weeks of the college football season. My first call would be to Deion Sanders. My first call, Lance Leipold at Kansas. He took a doormat of a program that had no interest in football, no success in football, and turned them around and turned them around very quickly with very little resources. Michigan State has a lot more resources and a lot more money than Kansas does, but this is a guy who knows how to build and knows how to turn things around quickly and would bring some competency right now and stability to this program.

Lance, your phone's ringing from me. I'm actually surprised, and I know sometimes coaches, right, the moment when they get offered a job or the moment they have a chance to go get a bigger job, they run. With what Lance Leipold did last year, and right, he finished, I think it was still six and seven, but that was remarkable with what he did at Kansas. I was surprised that he stayed at Kansas last year, but also, you know, you go have it above 500 season, and so far he's off to a 3-0 start.

His phone will be ringing a ton this off-season. But you look at the coaches that were there after Mark Mangino, because Mark Mangino, to his credit, did have that one 12-win season. Was it 08, right, Battle Missouri?

Can you name the one, two, three, four coaches that they had, head coaches, you know, not anyone that was like an interim after they fired someone, but can you name those four head coaches after Mark Mangino? Charlie Weiss, in no order. He was not the first one, but yes. David Beatty.

Yep. You got Weiss, you got David Beatty. I don't know the other two.

No, you definitely know one of them. Coming off a big job, resurfaced. Not Charlie Strong. No, it was not Charlie Strong. Big name in college football.

Big name in college football. Oh, that's right, Les Miles. Les Miles was there. That was forgettable, holy smokes.

Three and nine, and then 0-9. One of that controversy, oh, that was going back to everything that happened at LSU, too, right? Yes, yes, because of, yes, a lot of, let's say Miss D, he overlooked. Horrible things that occurred. To put it very kindly. Absolutely disgusting.

Let's not sugarcoat this. I do not know the fourth. The other one, I was a big fan of this guy, and the only reason I knew of him was because my sister attended this college. Buffalo, I was going to say, it's a Buffalo coach, right? I think I can picture his name, picture his face.

I can't tell. Turner Gill. Yep, Turner Gill. Let's go. Look at that.

Good job out of you. Yeah, Turner Gill was at Buffalo. I liked him at Buffalo. And then he took the Kansas job.

He went five and 19. And then he was at Liberty for a few years. I didn't realize he was at Liberty from 2012 to 2018. Warmed it up for Hugh Freeze.

That's a big run at Liberty there. A lot of years there for Turner Gill. So you go Lance Leipold.

Alrighty, my next call. Kalen DeBoer. I think Kalen DeBoer is one of the finest coaches in college football right now. He's at Washington. Washington could be a college football playoff team this year. I think they're going to win the Pac-12. I know they have a tough end to their schedule. They are going to the Big Ten.

They get paid more at Michigan State. I don't know if he would go there. I think he's happy where he is right now.

Two years in on the job. Michael Penix Jr., coming to a close there, has been sensational. But I would place a phone call to Kalen DeBoer. If you can't beat him, join him. Brian Hartline. Guy who all he does is get elite wide receiver talent to Ohio State. Hire him.

Have him be your coach. Because guess what? You mentioned Washington. Oregon's coming to the Big Ten. You already have Penn State, Michigan, Penn State, Michigan, and Ohio State. All five of those teams currently right now way more talented than Michigan State. I'd argue even Maryland right now, Wisconsin. The point is there's going to be a lot of talented teams in the Big Ten.

You need talent to win. Hartline brings that talent to East Lansing. So we know that right now the two best conferences in college football set up for the long term are the Big Ten and the SEC. So the Pac-12 is fading away.

You could look through a few names there, but they're going to other conferences, as we've discussed. But you have the ACC and the Big 12. And the Big 12 has salvaged themselves for right now.

And they bought themselves some times. The ACC, you know, you're not going to get Mike Norvell at Florida State. And that's a huge brand with the Florida State Seminoles. But there is a coach in the ACC that I think you could go get this offseason. And he's having a very good start to his year. Did a good job last year. Has a quarterback.

That's a player right now. I'm going to put Mike Elko, who I liked when he was the defensive coordinator at A&M. Mike Elko is my next pick here. I'm going back to the first cut, if you will, the first mold of Lance Leipold winning with less. Chris Kleiman has done that at a very high level.

It's a good one. It's a state where he does now recruit like Oklahoma, does now recruit like Texas. Just won the Big 12 last year.

Very scrappy, consistent team. Michigan State is probably nine times out of ten, not going to out recruit Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, maybe even Oregon. So this is a guy who knows how to win with less talent. Chris Kleiman, get on my phone.

And here's the thing, too. The most underappreciated conference champion potentially ever last year. Kansas State won the Big 12 and no one remembered them winning the Big 12, even though they did it in great controversy.

Because Sonny Dykes, I said this to Sonny this summer and he joined us on the show. I could not believe that he took the ball out of his quarterback, Max Duggan's hand. And honestly, I think he cost him the Heisman. Because if Max Duggan wins the Big 12 and gets that touchdown, I think he wins the Heisman.

But they took the ball out of his hand when he was running through Kansas State like he was a battering ram on that football field. But Chris Kleiman's done a phenomenal job recently at Kansas State and has been around the game for a long time. Alrighty, my next coach. You went with an assistant earlier in Brian Hartline, which he was on my list.

I'm going to go with someone that was expected to be a head coach this past offseason. Then his school elected to go elsewhere and they elected to go get Luke Fickel and you could not deny them of doing that. That's a smart hire in Luke Fickel who took Cincinnati to a college football playoff. But Jim Leonard then had to leave Wisconsin. He felt like it was right.

Thought he was going to take the year off. And now he is on Brett Bielma's staff at Illinois. I'm going to go with Jim Leonard as my next phone call that you would make.

I'll stick in the assistant realm then. Sean Lewis, offense coordinator for Colorado. You can't get Deion, maybe get right now the brains behind that offense.

They are humming offensively. Chidor looks like right now a Heisman contender without a doubt. Now obviously a lot of that is Chidor Sanders himself. But Sean Lewis has done also a really good job of bringing all these talented players in. And in one offseason quickly building an offense and quickly getting them on the right page.

Immediately capitalize on his star being hot. And maybe if you can't play for Deion if you're a recruit, hell go play for a guy who used to coach under Deion and Sean Lewis. And you know what the interesting part is about Sean Lewis? He has had coaching experience before because he left the head coaching job at Kent State to go be the offensive coordinator at Colorado. Very smart move.

I'll tell you, that is a savvy move right there that you threw out there. And not only that, you also have to remember Deion would give him his blessing, give him the endorsement. And Deion is going to the Big 12 with Colorado so it doesn't impact the Big 10 with Michigan State.

And I would assume from afar Deion would always be rooting for his first offensive coordinator at Colorado in Sean Lewis. I actually like that one. That's a good one. Alrighty. This next one is tough.

So this is my final selection. I thought about Willy Fritz at Tulane. I don't think he's going to leave. I remember we talked to him in the office just because the coach says that. He's a little bit older and he talked about how Tulane is the final stop for him.

But just because that's out there doesn't mean that that necessarily is going to be the case. I saw Bruce Feldman put out an article and he suggested PJ Fleck. I think PJ Fleck would take the job if he's offered it.

I don't know if Michigan State is going to come calling. I'm going to go here with a coach that we all remember from last year. And he's a coach that had a big victory. A big victory last year. And that is Charles Huff of the Thundering Herd who beat Notre Dame last year and was 9-4.

And now 2-0 to start off this season's 18-10 in three years at Marshall. And he's only 40 years old. And we've seen that the last few years with some of these coaches that get hired. Like Marcus Freeman, not an old guy, when he got his first opportunity. He's 37 years old. So in this new era of college football, you've got to understand the transfer portal.

You've got to understand name image and likeness as well. I will go with Charles Huff for the last phone call that Michigan State has to make. Number 5 before we get to Hickey Smith's final name. Deion Sanders, Kalen DeBoer, Mike Elko, Jim Leonard, and Charles Huff. Hickey goes with Lance Leipold, Brian Hartline, Chris Kleiman, Sean Lewis, and... A head coach right now without a country. Really a conference. I was going to say without a country.

What do you mean? Jonathan Smith at Oregon State. Now I don't know if he would leave. Oregon State is where he went to school in quarterbacks and maybe his heart is with the Beavs and will not leave. But right now Oregon State is left out in the middle of nowhere. They're a no-man's-land, no conference for next season. You have right now a really good Oregon State team. A lot of upper class and maybe if this is kind of the last big chance they have to break through.

He can maybe see the end is coming and leave to grow some morels, greener pastures. But he's got in town to Oregon State. They've been a slow bill but they are a tough, physical, smart team. And now really the last two or three years they've been really competent and really competitive. That's a guy where in a very competitive conference this season especially has his team playing tough, good football.

And got quarterbacks to still come play for his team. If you're Michigan State, give him a call. Let me ask you a question here real quickly. Is Cal moving to the ACC? I forget. Yes, Cal and Stanford.

Because someone that we haven't talked about and I just wonder now. Remember a few years ago, right? People were saying he was going to go back home to Eugene and he was going to be the coach of the Oregon Ducks. And eventually he got Dan Landy who you'll hear from coming up in about 20, 25 minutes on the show. I wonder if Justin Wilcox, you know, stayed at Cal and his best season was 8-5. I wonder if he starts to say, hmm, if I get a phone call the second time around from a conference with some stability. I know they're going to the ACC but the moment, I know we're down the road with the rights deal and everything. But the moment Florida State leaves, you wonder how many more schools are going to try to leave the ACC. I wonder if Justin Wilcox would be more inclined to leave than he was a few years ago for a school that was his in Oregon. To then go take that Michigan State job. What about him? I would say him for Northwestern, not for Michigan State. I think Michigan State could do better.

That's the thing. He's never figured out an offense. He's been a good defense of mine. But offensively, he struggled there for a long time. Alrighty, so here are the ten names that we've compiled here that Michigan State has to call.

Deion Sanders, Kalyn Deboer, Mike Elko, Jim Leonard, Charles Hufferman, Hickey Drafz, Lance Leipold, Brian Hartline, Chris Klyman, Sean Lewis, and Jonathan Smith. Would Coach Prime take the Michigan State job? Would he leave after one year at Colorado to take the Michigan State job?

I don't think so. I'd be shocked if he goes anywhere next year. So I wouldn't be shocked if a big, big, big job opens up in the Big Ten or the SEC. And Michigan State, it's a big job.

It's not a big, big, big job. Like Deion Sanders could do a whole lot better than Michigan State. I think he would listen. But if his son comes back and also he treats Travis Hunter like a son as well. I think that's going to be tough for him to pass up.

And also, if you have success here the first year. And let's say I'm going to believe him that he doesn't want to go to the NFL. I'll believe him until that happens. I almost think it behooves him where you don't even have to replicate the success, but just continue to dominate the transfer portal and keep Colorado at a big time level.

If you could do that for two years after one year. I said it even before Colorado. If I was Auburn, I would have hired him. I think there's going to be schools that come calling, but I do tend to agree. You know, barring a big job in the SEC opening up, I would think that Deion Sanders is going to be at Colorado for two years. Like if A&M opens up this offseason, if they finally pay Jimbo Fisher the money, is Deion going to turn down A&M? I think he would.

Maybe I'm a fool. I don't think he's in it for the money. I don't think he's in this to leapfrog and get to, let's say, Alabama in five years from now.

Okay, fine. But A&M, look at the resources that they just, like even if you want to say, okay, the contract doesn't matter, whatever. Which I don't think, you could never say money doesn't matter, but look at the recruiting classes Jimbo Fisher's been able to pull off at A&M. Top recruiting classes. Imagine you put Deion Sanders there at A&M. I encounter with, look at the talent Deion got to Jackson State. I think about it, he doesn't have to be at a recruiting fertile ground in order to get good talent in his school. He got the number one recruit to go to an FCS school. So even at Colorado, I think he'll have no problem recruiting and no problem bringing in a top ten class next year easily. Sure, but there's a different, in the pecking order, like look what he's been able to do with no resources at Jackson State, not a ton of resources at Colorado. You go to A&M where you have an unlimited supply of cash pretty much from the boosters to go get these recruits, he'll get like every recruit. Because that matters, like a lot of kids will be ooh and aah'd by Deion Sanders and be like, I want to play for him.

I would. But there's a lot of kids that go, which school is going to pay me the most money? And you know A&M's not going to get outbid. So if A&M opens up, I would say Deion would take it.

I really do believe Deion Sanders would take it. I think if his son comes back, I think he'll stay at Colorado. Travis Hunter as well, you would think the NCAA would not just grant him a free transfer again, but who knows? We saw what happened with the Tez Walker situation. So I would say right now, like 60% he's back at Colorado next year, but if A&M opens up, I think that's going to be a tough one to say no to.

Zac Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio. 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. 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 pompomethome.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. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. If you're an Oregon football fan, big game this weekend up against Coach Prime and Shadore Sanders and Shiloh Sanders, as it's Oregon with the Ducks up against the Buffaloes of Colorado in Eugene, Oregon. The head football coach of the Ducks who are ranked 10th in the country. And Dan Lanning's going to join us coming up in about 15 minutes or so.

So you'll hear from Dan Lanning. When you go to that game, it does kind of stink. Where there's still palpable buzz around that game because of Deion, what Shiloh did last week, where Shadore is at as a college football player and as a quarterback. And you look at Oregon, this is the best team they're going to face so far to this point. No disrespect to TCU and obviously Nebraska and Colorado State, but it's an obvious statement. 10th team in the country, a team that could win the Pac-12. They have a really good quarterback in Bo Nix who's revitalized his career.

Coming over from Auburn the last two seasons, has looked like a Heisman Trophy candidate last year and is doing that once again this year with almost 900 passing yards and has eight touchdowns to no interceptions through the first three games. And we know Oregon is the best defense that Shadore is going to play. This is a game that I think it's going to be closer than what Vegas thinks.

I already plussed to 21 points earlier in the week. I think Oregon is going to win the football game. They may win the football game by 10 to 14 points, maybe 10 to 17 points. But I do believe that Colorado is going to, bare minimum, with their quarterback be able to hang in and give this one and give Oregon at times a challenge in this game.

So I'm really excited to see how this plays out. But Hickey, it's impossible to not talk about this game and just feel like we got robbed, even with still the buzz about this, with how exciting Travis Hunter has been, with how he put the entire nation on notice up against TCU in that first game of the season where he played like over 100-something snaps and he made that interception right at the goal line and then also was a lethal wide receiver for them. It stinks with the hit and it's crazy how he came back in the game and had the lacerated liver and the doctor's like, oh, you actually can't play anymore. And now I know he's in good spirits. He was speaking about a giraffe costume, I think it was, on social media, which I thought was funny.

And he was basically like, hey, the hit happened. It is what it is. It's football.

And he's expected to be out for three weeks. But just the timing of this with the little sampling that we got of him, for him to now miss the Oregon and the USC game, it does absolutely stink. Oh, it's the worst.

It's absolutely the worst. We, the viewer, robbed. Obviously, Travis and Colorado themselves were robbed as well going into this game with as much strength as possible.

Now, we'll say on the flip side, I saw this on Twitter, and this is something I had not thought about before, but I think it's true. Is this the Colorado-Oregon thing? Oregon thing.

Okay. With how much attention this game is going to get because of Colorado, it's going to be a big bow-nix for Heisman push. You light up the Buffaloes. It could start. It's not ending it.

No, Heisman's ever won in September. But to get the ball rolling, to get people to start putting your name in the conversation, that's what Colorado is going to be used for. And this is the first one right here where we talk a lot about Chador, rightfully so. On the other side, bow-nix balls out.

Bow, welcome to the race. Right now, I just looked this up. The latest Heisman Trophy odds via our friends at BetMGM. Where do you think bow-nix is right now in whatever place for the best Heisman Trophy odds? I will say seventh. Pretty close. Let me just do my math here real quickly. He's eighth right now.

Okay. At plus 2200. Do you think you could name the seven players in front of bow-nix right now? Caleb Williams. Correct. At plus 350. Chador Sanders.

Yes. He is at plus 1800. Right now that's one, two, three, four, five, six. Michael Penix Jr.

He's at second at plus 550. Let me ask you this. How many non-quarterbacks? They are all quarterbacks. All quarterbacks. Okay.

So you got Caleb Williams, you got Michael Penix Jr., and you got Chador Sanders. And then obviously the question is in front of bow-nix. I will say, is Jackson Dart above bow-nix?

He is not. Not above. Jackson Dart on this list, I don't even see him on it. Now they give one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen players. Dylan Gabriel's got to be above them. That would be inaccurate. Dylan Gabriel's at plus 2500.

This is not that difficult here. You're missing three enormous names and one player that I've made a case for as well. Is it J.J. McCarthy?

J.J. McCarthy is just slightly in front of bow-nix. He's at plus 2000. Now if you're inquiring there, Blake Corman's at plus 6000.

Jordan Travis has got to be in there. Thank you. Now you're using your brain at plus 1200.

Yeah, plus 600. There's one more here. Come on, this is a layup. Drake May?

Nope. Drake May is right behind Dylan Gabriel at plus 3500. This is a layup through the first few weeks of the season. This final name.

Layup. Big school. A lot of praise for this guy. May not be the best player on the field on Saturday for his own team, but we have talked about this guy a lot. A quarterback that's not the best player on the field for his own team? Cade Clubnick? No, it can't be. No, I take that back. Cade Clubnick? What are we doing?

Handing out a participation trophy now? I said I took it back. I'm just speaking out loud. What are you, Davos Sweeney's biggest supporter there? I'm going through, I don't know. You need a hint. Oh, Sam Hartman.

Thank you. Who is- Slinging conferences. You want to talk about Heisman push this weekend, and I know it's early, right? Fourth week of the college football season, even though I think this is the fifth game for Notre Dame? Yes, they played week zero.

Yeah. So, if you want to go through this, if Sam Hartman wins this weekend up against Ohio State, that is someone that is going to have a, that could rival their Bo Nix in terms of making a Heisman trophy push. I actually think if Notre Dame wins compared to Oregon winning, like if they both are victorious this weekend, I would say that there's a bigger push for Sam Hartman than there would be Bo Nix at Oregon. I mean, if they play close to the same, yes. I'm thinking they both win the game. Like, obviously both have to play well in order to win, can't have the run game leading the way. But yeah, no, this is a big chance here for both quarterbacks. Yeah, and the player I was referencing, I think Audric Estime, just this weekend is going to be the best player for Notre Dame on the offensive side of the ball. With that offensive line, the way that we've seen Ohio State lose the last two years to Michigan, it's bully ball, big offensive lineman, dominate you in the trenches, and then have a running back go off. And Audric Estime, he's leading the nation in rushing, right?

Didn't Brady Quinton say that? I know he's had a really good start to the season, but he's done a phenomenal job. If he's had an extra game, I know what you're going to say. You're going to debit down, poo-poo him, knock him down, and not be fair here. It's early in the season where sample sizes for the most part are small, and he has a massive advantage against most other people. Not saying he's bad, just clarifying.

Now, you know this. If that was a Penn State running back that had the extra game, it would be like, folks, that's running back in the country. No, I would give equal clarity. I am neutral here. You are not fair. When it comes to your football teams, you are not fair.

Unbiased. You can say it as many times as you want. When it comes to your football teams, there aren't.

Now, can I ask you this? Do you think that, like, I'm a Heisman Trophy voter. I am not going to say, oh, Caleb Williams can't win the Heisman Trophy this year.

He's the favorite to win the award. But I wonder, like, how many other voters are going to look to hand it to somebody else just because Caleb Williams won the award last year. Like, last year, Caleb Williams didn't win the Pac-12 Championship game. He still got the award. They lost to the Pac-12 Championship game.

Remember, he got hurt. Is it almost like when you're looking at, like, a LeBron or a Tom Brady kind of win to MVP where everything has to go right, where if you're Caleb Williams, if you don't win the Pac-12 Championship this year, then you're not going to have a chance. Or you're not going to, you know, you could be a finalist, but you're not going to win the Heisman Trophy.

Better not be the case. Take the vote away if that's the case. If you're voting for him because he didn't win the Pac-12 title game or he won last year, you want to spread the vote out. Sorry, that's not a good enough reason.

Not a good enough reason whatsoever. But what I'm saying is you've seen that when it's like the guy, whether it's a Mahomes or it's a Brady or, let's just say, LeBron James, it's like everything has to go their way in the eyes of some of these voters. I'm not saying that's how I'm going to vote. I'm just saying we've seen that before in history with awards in sports. And I'm saying it should be a year-by-year basis where even if he has, let's just say, a lesser year this year compared to last year, but he's still the best player, then I don't see how you can still give it to anyone else. Even if he doesn't win the Pac-12 or even if he did last year and doesn't win it this year, if you look around and can say this is still the best quarterback and the best player in college football, period, he should win the award no matter what the team results are and whatever his record is. Now, I will say the guy that will continue to have the most opportunities to make a statement week in and week out, it is Jordan Travis. Already beat LSU, could smother Clemson this week, still has to go up against Duke with the big matchup there.

Like, if you end up going undefeated at Florida State and taking them back to the college football playoff and you win that ACC with big performances against LSU and Clemson, that's a guy that I would definitely want to sprinkle some money on. All right, we've got to take a break from the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Let's get to the latest CBS Sports Radio update when we come on back. The head coach of Oregon, Dan Lanning, will join us.

We'll be right back. All righty, this is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Looking forward to this afternoon tilt this weekend between 19th ranked Colorado with Coach Prime and Chidor Sanders going up against 10th ranked Oregon with Dan Lanning and also Bo Nix. And now joining us is the second year head football coach of the Oregon Ducks, and that's Dan Lanning. Coach, appreciate the time.

Thanks for it. How you doing? Doing great. Thanks for having me, Zach.

Well, thanks so much for coming on. We all saw the sensational season your quarterback had a year ago. To start off this year through three games has almost 900 yards, eight touchdowns, and no interceptions. Just why has Bo been able to flourish in your program here after coming over from Auburn?

Well, priority one, he's a great player. He's always been a great player, but I think he really tapped into something here. He's been able to play free, but also operate really well in our system. He's kind of like having another coach on the field. So he gets us in the right play a lot, and it's fun to have a guy like that on your team. When he elected to return for another season, what did you guys really challenge him to do to build off what he was able to do a year ago?

You know, I mean, Bo really knows the areas. Him and I sat down personally and talked about some of the things that he wants to be able to prove and attack. But honestly, we just wanted to be him, you know, and I think he felt like he had some unfinished business.

Not talking really selfishly, I think from some team goals that he wanted to accomplish. So we were pretty excited when he came back and excited to see what he continues to do this season. When you go to the initial recruiting process, clearly had to commit to you guys, but you guys also wanted him. Why was it that you said, okay, we need to go get Bo Nix? Well, you know, I'd actually gone against Bo several times while I was there at Georgia, and he was at Auburn. And he always presented some unique challenges, but, you know, even recruiting him early on in that process, you knew he was going to go to Auburn because, you know, the family ties there. But you get the, it's really clear what kind of person he is, what kind of player he is, the family that he comes from.

So he fit all the values and traits that we were looking for in our program. Coach Dan Lanning here with us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio, Colorado, Oregon, this weekend on Saturday. So the talk of college football has been what Coach Prime and the Colorado Buffaloes have been doing this year. A lot of hype comes before this game. Have you guys been handling the build up to this one on Saturday? Well, I'm excited.

It's a lot of fun. Obviously, there wasn't near this much hype last year when we played Colorado. So I'm glad that there's a little juice. I think that makes college football exciting, and we're certainly ready to go perform in front of a lot of fans. As a coach, what has really stood out to you when you take a look at what Coach Prime's been able to do with this team?

Well, I think you have some weapons. You know, obviously, he turned the roster over quick, and he has some good players there, guys he can play, probably any one nation. And then he hired a phenomenal coaching staff. You know, I don't know if the coaching staff gets enough credit, but he put some really good guys around him that understand what he wants to accomplish, and they do it at a really high level. When you look at the quarterback in Shadore Sanders, you being a defensive-minded coach, just what really jumps out to you, what he's been able to do so far, going back to last year at Jackson State and what he's been able to do through the first three games of this season? I think he has great patience. He's able to extend plays. You know, I wouldn't consider him a scramble-to-run guy, but he's able to scramble and keep plays alive. And then his wideouts down the field do a phenomenal job of finding open spaces and holes.

He has a lot of target shots down the field that he's able to take advantage of, and he has the athletes outside that he can get it to. Coach, this is going to be a gauntlet this year in the Pac-12. You have eight teams in the top 25 right now, and the quarterbacks are just loaded. It's got to be the toughest year to prepare getting ready for all these quarterbacks, right?

Yeah, you don't sleep a lot during the week, which is, you know what, that's what you sign up for. It's a lot of fun. I'm glad we get to play against great teams.

There's no cupcakes on our schedule. We get to go prepare every single week, and that's what's going to make it fun, especially when you enter conference play where it means a little bit more. When did your program really start to trust you, and when did you really start to trust the players? I know this is your second go at it, your second year at Oregon, but when did you guys really start to build off that trust and things start to work very easily for you guys? You know, when I first got here, I never asked our players to trust me.

I just said, hey, give me an opportunity to earn your trust, right? If I ever prove that I'm not trustworthy, you let me know, and I think our players really responded to that from the beginning. You know, we've been really genuine in our approach and what we want to accomplish, and we have a lot of, again, like-minded players that have the same goals.

We've got hungry guys. We've got leaders on this team, you know, and all of our goals are right in front of us, but it starts with just the next game, right? And the next practice, the next meeting, so I think our guys really approach that the right way. I know you guys are excited for that next chapter when you move into the Big Ten, but with how good the Pac-12 has been this year, is it a little bittersweet knowing that this conference is coming to a close pretty much after this season?

Yeah, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it, but I'll say this. I mean, every one of these games, you kind of are going to reminisce because this might be the last time you get to play a team like Colorado or the last time you get to play certain teams. So, we're going to enjoy every moment.

You know, it starts with enjoying today, but yeah, it's certainly going to be a little bit different moving forward. The problem is really with the Pac-12, you guys have such a good conference that you guys eventually never really beat up on one another. With how many good teams there are this year, would you hope that whoever wins the conference actually gets into the college football playoff, even if they have a few more losses than some of these other conferences? Certainly, whoever wins this conference deserves to be in the college football playoff. There's no question, especially with caliber teams that are in this conference this year, and hopefully that's us. Just wondering, Dan Lanning, if Coach Prime was there last year, some people have made this argument with the hype that he's brought to the conference.

Do you think that would have led to a more attractive media rights deal to maybe keep this conference around? I don't really talk in hypotheticals, you know, so it wasn't, so I really can't speak to it, but again, I'm glad there's excitement around this game and certainly glad he's brought some excitement to college football. Coach, I know we have a lot of people listening that know you from Georgia, just how do you kind of reflect on what that time at Georgia meant for your coaching career? Well, it was some of the best years of my life, my career as far as growth as a coach, opportunity to learn, I got to be around some great guys and get to coach some obviously some phenomenal players. So yeah, I'll always hold that place near and dear to my heart.

It's a team that I'm always rooting for outside of us to have success, so I wish those guys nothing but the best. When I look back at your journey, it wasn't that long ago that you were coaching in high school from 2008 to 2010, you had a bunch of different stops as a GA. When did you start to feel like you were going to get a moment to become a head coach, which you've now done the last two seasons with Oregon?

I never really put that part in the front of my process. You know, I was always focused on where I was at at the time and doing a great job where I was at. And I knew that if I was in a place that won and I took care of business myself, the rest would kind of come and that's really what's happened for me. I was fortunate to be around great players and great coaches that I learned from and places where I won. And when you win and around teams that win, success comes from that.

What do you take from your high school days that you still implement today? Oh man, I mean you're just playing football in general. You talking about a high school coach or a high school player? Yeah, coaching, coaching, coaching.

Gotcha. Yeah, I mean that every moment is a teachable moment and a learnable moment and any player will meet the standards that you set as long as you set clear standards and expectations. But I think you learn that at an early age. If you let things slide by, you know what, your players will let them slide by. But if you hold people accountable and make sure that they understand that you have their best interests at heart as well as the teams, then everybody can be successful. But coaching high school was great for me. I got to coach offense early on in high school and learned a lot from those moments. Last thing I'll ask you, we talked about how well-rounded your football team is. I know a lot of people when we do these national interviews like the highlight on the quarterback and then the coach that you're going up against this week obviously makes a ton of news. But when you look at your defense, if you had to describe your defense as someone that has not seen them yet, what does your defense bring to the table this year?

I'd just say strength in numbers. We roll a lot of players and that's because we have a lot of guys that can play winning football. When you have that, I think you have a chance to be successful because you talk about keys to great defense and one of them is relentless effort.

You can't give relentless effort if you're playing 85 snaps a game. So we've got a bunch of guys that can go out there and create success for us and hopefully that will lead to us being successful on Saturday. Well coach, it's a monster weekend for college football.

I know a lot of eyes will be on your game up against Colorado. We appreciate you taking some time out with us today. Absolutely. Thanks, Zach.

Have a great one. Yep, and there he is. Dan Lanning, the head coach of Oregon, joining us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Two days before his big matchup against Coach Prime, Shadore Sanders, Shiloh Sanders with that great story of the Colorado Buffaloes. Can't wait for 3.30 p.m. Eastern Time kick on Saturdays. We have a monster slate of college football games this weekend.

But that's all the time that we have today. Once again, I'd like to thank Coach Dan Lanning for joining us. Also, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Drew Tranquil as he tried to give us some clarity on the relationship status, I guess you could say, of the very famous Taylor Swift and also Travis Kelce.

Maybe, just maybe. We played a small role in trying to get Taylor Swift to a Kansas City Chiefs game. I thought that was a good pitch that Drew gave on this show to Taylor Swift to go see Travis Kelce play some football. And I would also like to thank Victor Cruz for stopping by earlier today on the show. And I would also like to thank each and every one of you for calling and listening and tweeting to the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

And I also have to thank my producer extraordinaire, Hot Take Kicky. Alrighty, monster football Friday show tomorrow. We have to preview all the college football games. So many good top 25 games. Plus, a lot of NFL to talk about on a football Friday. Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner will join us.

And also, fresh off his big game from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Alex Highsmith will swing on by. And Ryan Horvat in his weekly betting spot at 6.20 p.m. Eastern, 3.20 p.m. Pacific will get you all up to date on everything you need to know from a gambling perspective on college football and the NFL. If you missed any of the segments today or any of the interviews, you can listen on the Odyssey app for the next 24 hours. Just use the rewind function or you could actually go to my Twitter page or Instagram page. Give me a follow at Zach Gelb, Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B.

And the link in the bio will send you right to our podcast page where we archive all of our segments. So have a great rest of your Thursday evening everybody. We'll be back tomorrow at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific for a monster football Friday show right here on CBS Sports Radio, Sirius XM Channel 158 and the free Odyssey app. Have a great evening everybody. We out. Bye bye. Peace!