Cowboys Facing Most Pressure This Weekend (Hour 2)

How we doing? Football Friday right here, Zach Gilb, here with you on CBS Sports Radio. You know, I'm looking at the docket for this weekend in the NFL, and there's two teams that I think can make enormous statements this weekend. The obvious one, the Dallas Cowboys against the San Francisco 49ers, and then it's also the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Buffalo Bills. Let's start with Dallas. The Cowboys are off to a really good start this year. I think there's a good amount of people that have understood that the Cowboys are a contender. You look at the NFC, the Eagles and 49ers.

You could debate who you think is the best team. I've said it's the Eagles. Everyone will then say, Gelb, you root for the Eagles. I don't.

I'm from New York. I'm also a Patriot fan, so I do not root for the Philadelphia Eagles. I don't dislike the Eagles. I did live in Philadelphia, but it's not as if I'm picking the Eagles over the 49ers because I love the Eagles and I genuflect to the Eagles and I can't stand the crap out of the San Francisco 49ers. But whoever you decipher is the better team between the Eagles and the 49ers, we could all acknowledge that the 49ers are one of the better teams in the NFL and either the best or second best team in the NFC. And then after that, we're all trying to figure out who could be that third contender in the NFC.

Seattle could be a possibility. The Lions could be a possibility as well. But really, through the first four weeks of the season, it's the Dallas Cowboys where the Cowboys have blown out three teams, both New York teams, and they also just crush the snot out of the New England Patriots.

And then they go up against the Arizona Cardinals and they kind of got embarrassed. So this is the best opponent and the first legit opportunity the Cowboys have to really send a message to the NFL that they're legit this year, where you don't punch your ticket to the NFC Championship game this weekend or to the Super Bowl this weekend and hoist the Lombardi Trophy, but you could get a lot more people to jump on the Dallas Cowboys bandwagon because, as we asked about earlier, is Taylor Swift the most popular person on the planet? What I'll say about the Cowboys is they're the most polarizing team in the NFL, where the Cowboy fan is going to be annoying people.

They're going to pop up like cockroaches that they are, and they're going to tell you how great they are when they win. But then when the exterminator comes and you lose games, we never hear from those Dallas Cowboys fans. But then most of the other fans in the NFL, because the Cowboys haven't won jack since 1995, they get sick and tired of the Dallas Cowboys and people root against the Dallas Cowboys. And there's a reason why, on a national radio show, we talk about the Dallas Cowboys so much, because they are a polarizing team. Everyone has an opinion about the Dallas Cowboys. And the way that I view the Cowboys, I think, is a very fair and logical way.

They're a really damn good football team that, for the last two years, they've had a championship defense, and they've had a team that Mike McCarthy's done a better job than what people give him credit for. And ultimately, when push comes to shove against the 49ers two years ago in the wildcard round and against the 49ers last year in the divisional round, the quarterback has let them down. Where you could blame and scapegoat other people like Kellen Moore and the sloppy play calling where Dak couldn't get the ball off, you could blame Tony Pollard going down and unfortunately having an injury.

But franchise quarterbacks that get paid $40 million are expected to elevate the team. And I know that it's unfortunate that Tony Pollard did go down in the game, but anytime Dak started to move the football, he turned it over against the 49ers. So even though the Cowboys can't solidify a spot in the NFC title game or the Super Bowl with the victory up against the 49ers, this would put the league on notice that we have to alter our expectations and look at the Cowboys differently if they walk into Santa Clara and they find a way, whether it's by one point, 10 points, 20 points, whatever it is, and it's not going to be a blowout.

This could be a close game. Personally, I think the 49ers are going to win the game, but we all know there's a lot more to gain in this one from the Cowboys side than it is the San Francisco 49ers side. But there's no player and no team under more pressure this week than the Dallas Cowboys and the player being Dak Prescott because this goes one or two ways. Dak Prescott wins the game and plays well and everyone's singing his praises come Monday. Or if he's the reason why they lose the game, like he has been the last two years, people look at Dak and they go, he's the definition of someone that is overpaid, someone that's paid like a great quarterback. And it doesn't mean he's an abysmal product, but he's a good quarterback. He's a very good quarterback. But when you're in a clutch spot against a great team, there are certain quarterbacks that have it. There are certain quarterbacks that you believe could get the job done like a Mahomes, like a Josh Allen, like a Joe Burrow, like a Jalen Hurts, right? You know the names of guys, and this is the way that I define a franchise quarterback. Like many people have different ways to define a franchise quarterback.

The way that I define it is when there is two ways that define it. If there's two minutes left in the game and you're down by four points, can your quarterback go get the ball, drive it down the field and get a touchdown in the two minute offense? And the other way is if it's third down in the game, I don't care what it is.

Third and eight, third and four, third and 15, third and 18, do I sit there on my couch or sit in the studio and say, I know this quarterback can get a first down. And for Dak, he's just not a clutch player. And I know people could say, oh, well, he's won this playoff game. He's won that playoff game.

Oh, he beat the Bucks last year in the postseason. And I bought into the Cowboys last year and I never buy into the Cowboys, but I thought the Cowboys were going to walk into San Francisco last year, take care of San Francisco and then go to Philadelphia for the NFC title game. And it was the same old story. It's the Cowboys really are like the team that is that great movie that you like to watch that really good movie that you like to watch.

And you know what the ending of the movie is going to be, but whenever you watch that movie, you sit there with your bowl of popcorn and you you'll take in the movie and you know that even if you think there's going to be a different result, the movie was made 20 years ago and it's going to be the same ending. So when you look at the Cowboys this weekend, that can't be the reason why they lose this game. And quite frankly, they got to win this game because if you don't win this game and let's say San Francisco beats you like 30 to 20, like by a good margin, we're going to look at the Cowboys through five weeks of the season as they beat three bad football teams lost to a bad football team. And then they went up against a, a great opponent.

They just show that they're not in that class. And this year the NFL is open. It really is like outside of the Eagles and the 49ers. We don't know much about the NFL this year. We know the Eagles are really good. We know the 49ers are really good. In the AFC few weeks ago, we were all down in the bills.

Now the bills look like they're the flavor of the month, right? First three weeks of the season, we all love the dolphins. Now we doubt the dolphins after the game up against Buffalo, Kansas city.

We know that they're always going to be in it, but their offense hasn't started to click yet. So we don't know a lot about the NFL this year. The only thing I know right now is my homes will be in the post season and the 49ers and the Eagles are the two best teams in football. So this is there for the taking this year, but just because a team is vulnerable, just because the NFL is open, doesn't mean that it won't be the same old, same old where it's the Eagles and 49ers in it at the end. And you keep on leaving the door open for the Kansas city chiefs, just like what happened last year.

If you have an opportunity to knock out my homes, you better knock him out or else he's going to make you pay. So I got to see the Cowboys this weekend, walk into Santa Clara and I got to see number four, earn that contract and make a statement, right? We talk about isolated window like Thursday night, bears made a statement last night with fields and DJ Moore.

And some people, I'm not changing my thinking, but some people are saying, Oh, maybe now the bear should keep Justin Fields. The Dallas Cowboys had the most to gain this weekend because if the 49ers was a close one, eh, they're the 49ers. They wake up every year in the NFC championship game. But if the Cowboys lose this one, it's, you'll look at them and you just go, what are they? They have a good defense and a quarterback that can't win the big game. So enormous, enormous week for the Dallas Cowboys. And then another team that I think is under pressure that I don't believe a lot of people are talking about. It's actually the Jacksonville Jaguars because the Jaguars remember in week one, the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Colts were down for, they ended up winning the game by 10.

Then they had a big, enormous task with the chiefs coming into their building and the Jacksonville Jaguars that have a good offense on paper with Trevor Lawrence, Travis ATN. You go through Calvin Ridley. I'll always take a gamble on Calvin Ridley.

I'm a big fan of his. You have Christian Kirk. You had the big tight end in Evan Ingram. Like you got a really good offense there with the Jacksonville Jaguars and against the chief's defense is not perceived to be this great defense. You only scored three field goals.

You scored three field goals by a college buddy of mine and Brandon McManus. That was a hellacious effort defensively by the Kansas city chiefs. And then you go up against the Texans the next week and you get blown out by 20 points and you made CJ Stroud look like a hall of fame already. And last week, sure.

In London, you take care of the Falcons and now you get Buffalo in London. This is a game for the Jaguars where going into the year, we knew the Jaguars are most likely going to win the AFC South and the AFC South is a little bit better than what we thought it was going to be. You knew the Jaguars with the talent that they have had the capability of being a double digit win team. I thought they could be maybe the number two overall seed in the AFC with the bad division and the way that their schedule is. But with Jacksonville, after making a big first year impression with Doug Peterson as the coach, Trevor Lawrence's first real year in the NFL because Urban Meyer should be locked up and thrown in jail with the way that he handled the Jacksonville Jaguars.

I can't even say in a full year because he did get fired before the end of that first year. But for Jacksonville last year, they took a step of we went from the number one pick in the draft back to back years to being a team that won their division, took a huge leap and also won a playoff game where they had that crazy comeback against the Chargers and then they were in it up against the Kansas City Chiefs and lost in the divisional round. So this year for Jacksonville, it's can you go from being a team that's expected to win the division, expected to be in the playoffs to a bona fide Super Bowl contender and up against the Chiefs, who were just getting Chris Jones back, who were just getting Travis Kelce back. And the Chiefs only scored 17 points. If you would have told me for that game, Kansas City would have only only scored 17 points against Jaguar. They say, OK, Jaguars win what, 23, 17 bare minimum. And they ended up losing that game. The Jaguars 17 to nine.

So now you have a team that's been in it the last few years. That is in the upper echelon of teams in the NFL, in the Buffalo Bills and the Bills coming off an enormous victory up against the the Miami Dolphins. The Jaguars have to win this game. I don't feel good about the Jacksonville Jaguars going into this week, but you have to win this game because if you don't, you lost to the Texans, you beat the Colts, you beat the Falcons. And against the two really good teams that you played, your offense did diddly squat against the Chiefs and the Bills. We all know that they're a good team, but it's not like inconceivable that the Jaguars can't win this game.

I don't think it's going to happen. But if you're ready to step into the heavyweights of the NFL and not just be a good team, not just be a team that we look at all double digit win team, impressive roster, good coach, young up and coming talent. If you're ready to put your big boy pants on and you're ready to go make a Super Bowl march this year and try to be a bonafide Super Bowl contender, you win this game against Buffalo because you didn't take care of business against a Chiefs team that was vulnerable. Now you have Buffalo coming in and Buffalo's flying hot. Buffalo is now getting everyone back on the bandwagon. They're circling the wagons in Buffalo and the Buffalo Bills are making you want to shout. That's what's transpiring right now with the Bills. Go humble the Bills this week. Go take the Bills down and go be the story on Monday where the Jacksonville Jaguars have shown you even after an up and down start that this is a football team that is capable of taking that next step this year. So those are the two teams this weekend that I can't wait to see what happens. I want to see if the Cowboys are ready for the big test and I want to see if the Jaguars are ready for the big test. And both of those teams share the similarities where most football fans look at them as a good team, not a great team. You win this week either of those teams you get thrown into the great category. You get thrown into a team that we now have to monitor and seriously consider as a Super Bowl contender 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. Let's go to Craig in Portland, Oregon next up on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

Craig, what's happening? Well, my opinion might not be too popular because it seems to be the play du jour, but I think we really need to get rid of the tush push in this next offseason. To me that's just not football, that's rugby. It shouldn't be allowed.

I can't remember a time, maybe there was a rule against it, maybe that got changed. But my other take real quick would be, I think it came with a lot of pressure on this week is the Rams. Because the Rams have to decide whether they're actually tanking or whether they're trying to win with getting Cooper Cup back, all the talent they have on offense, kind of missing a run game.

But I think there's a lot of pressure on the Rams this week against Philly. I think it's a great point Craig and thanks so much Colin from Portland, Oregon, a place that I love to visit. Well, Noma Falls, one of my favorite hikes that I've ever did go on and in Portland, they had the double happy hour, which gentlemen, Stu and also Sam, if you could ever get to Portland, Oregon, they do the normal happy hour. And then it's like happy hour tend to close, which is just phenomenal. That's the one time tend to close.

Yeah, dangerous, phenomenal. It's the one time I've ever left my credit card in a bar. I was in Portland, Oregon. We're going, we started in Seattle road trip to Oregon, then went all throughout the state of Oregon, me and like three or four friends in college. We had some buddies that lived out in Oregon from a sleepaway camp that we worked at. And one of our friends is like a local artist in Portland and he's performing at this bar.

And we were getting bombed. And then at 10 PM, 10 30, they're like, Oh, it's, it's now happy hour again. I'm like happy hour again. And I get back to the hotel.

That's a 20 minutes away. And I look at my wall and I go, I left my credit card there. And I go back, had to drive all the way back. My friends who was the local artists, like pass that on the bar with the guitar in his hand.

Cause he was imbibing as well. And the next thing I realized they did have my credit card there, but yeah, dangerous, but a lot of fun. But when you get back to the caller's point, I kind of think the Rams are going to be in this game this weekend. Now I look at that spread Eagles minus four.

I think that's Vegas begging you to lay the four points. I would actually consider plus in the four points with the Rams because getting Cooper cup back and now you have Puka Nakua too. I think everyone's going to be in on the Eagles. This may be the week where maybe the Eagles go down after some close calls. Cause I don't love the Rams. I think there's too many people that organization one foot in one foot out with Stafford and Aaron Donald and Sean McVay.

But now you get a big jolt with Cooper cup expected to play and they announced that he is going to play in this game. The Rams, I think are very much alive this weekend. Let's go to Anthony and Myrtle beach next up on CBS sports radio. Anthony, what's happening? What's happening, brother? What's going on with you? Doing fantastic football Friday. What do we got?

Yes, sir. So I just wanted to hit base real fast yesterday. You were talking about the Cowboys or Trey Lance and how he's just, basically it was a dumb choice to chase after him. I don't, I don't think it was a dumb choice.

I just don't think he's ever going to actually play and start. And that's my point. I think Jerry Jones picked them up. So he's a mole. I mean, the best way to be a nemesis is to get an inside connection. So he knows the play calls, he knows the signs, he knows everything that's going on. So he's trying to gain a little bit of an advantage of over the 49ers. So to say coming from, you know, the diners where Dallas can have the play call, don't switch up the sign, just try to get a little heads up.

I think it's a, a shot in the dark. I'm sure they're smart enough to change your play calling, but I mean, that's the only logical reason I see them going after Trey Lance. Well, I think, I think they more so went after Trey Lance.

I think it has nothing to do with trying to get some Intel on the 49ers. The only reason I think they went after Trey Lance is because it was a guy that was a number three overall pick that barely played. And we've seen Dak get injured before. I know Cooper rushes played well and they looked at it as we could get a young player in this league for basically nothing. That's why I think they did that. Ultimately, I don't care what Intel Trey Lance has.

It's not going to play an impact on the game. It's all coming down to if Dak Prescott, if he could step up and elevate his game on a big stage and maybe the biggest, this is the biggest game up until this point of the NFL season. I know it's only five weeks in, so that could be like a ridiculous statement, but this is an enormous game on Sunday night football that everyone's going to be tuned in for with the Cowboys and the 49ers. All right, we'll take a break here on CBS Sports Radio. We'll come on back. We'll do a little on-site off-site on the other side.

Five questions, five answers. We do that segment every Monday and Friday right here on CBS Sports Radio. And you could stream the NFL on Westwood One for free. Sponsored by AutoZone all season long. You could listen to every Westwood One broadcast of the NFL Live on the NFL app by asking Alexa to open Westwood One Sports or on the Odyssey app. Get in the zone AutoZone.

AutoZone's free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local AutoZone. Get in the zone AutoZone. Restrictions apply. Five questions, five answers. We do this every Monday and Friday right here on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Let's get to a little on-sides off-sides. Stu, hit it! Zach's taking on the most polarizing issues in sports. Which side of the line of scrimmage will he end up on? It's on-sides off-sides with Zach Gelb on CBS Sports Radio.

All right, Sam, what do we got? All right, Kyler Murray is still recovering from this tour in ACL and Arizona is among the teams expected to be in play for Caleb Williams at the top of the draft. A new ESPN report by Dan Graziano says the Cardinals are still not sure whether they'll keep Murray beyond 2023. So on-side off-side, Kyler Murray will be the starting quarterback somewhere in the NFL in 2024. Oh, absolutely.

This is on-side. Kyler Murray will be a starting quarterback next year. Kyler Murray is one of those quarterbacks that are thrown into the conversation of he's a good quarterback. I don't think he's a great quarterback. But just because it hasn't worked out in Arizona, whether that's him not putting in the work or Cliff Kingsbury being a disaster towards the end of his tenure, Steve Ky not being a good GM towards the end of his tenure, or the Cardinals just having a good chance of having a good draft pick and maybe they want to pick a quarterback, which I don't know if that's going to be the case. The Cardinals have been competitive. I still think they're going to be in the top 10. The Texans, maybe they're not in the top 10. But if they can't get Caleb Williams, you got to reevaluate that conversation about just automatically trading Kyler Murray. Now, Shandor Sanders is there. Maybe you take him, Michael Penix Jr., Drake May, whoever the quarterbacks may be. But if it doesn't work in Arizona, how many times have we seen this in the NFL before? There's been worse quarterbacks to get a second opportunity than Kyler Murray. So if it's not with the Cardinals next year, Kyler Murray will absolutely be a starting quarterback somewhere in 2024 in the National Football League.

Number two, what do we got? Wow, is that the new voice of NFL films right there? Is that Zachary Gelb? You know, some say that I do resemble the voice of God, John Fescenda. And then I woke up from a from a good nap.

Okay, that must have been a great nap. No, that was a very good deep voice just now. Alan Roach, I think, is the current voice of the NFL at the Super Bowl where he goes, Welcome to the Super Bowl.

I know Scott Graham does a lot of stuff for NFL films now as well. And you got you got that voice. The AFC South is wide open with checks in the mail, by the way. You're welcome.

You're welcome. Hopefully somebody at the league office is listening right now. Stroking my ego right here. And I like Taylor Swift, too, if the NFL is listening.

I'll give all the free promo to Taylor Swift as well. The AFC South is wide open with all four teams sitting at two and two. This weekend, the Titans travel to Indianapolis to take on Ryan Hickey's Colts.

Yeah, I know, right? I can't believe I just mentioned his name. Anthony Richardson is healthy and Jonathan Taylor returns for Indy after missing the first four games. So onside offside, the Colts will win the AFC South this season. The Colts are my least favorite team in the NFL.

I will admit, though, I do like Anthony Richardson, and he's been very entertaining this year and they get back Jonathan Taylor. But this is a easy offside because guess what's gonna happen? The Jacksonville Jaguars, who are two and two right now and haven't looked great, they're eventually going to win this division. So I'll take the Jags offside on the Colts winning the AFC South. Offside!

Number three. All right, so Lane Kiffin took over the head coaching job for Ole Miss four years ago, and after going five and five his first year, he's amassed a 22 and nine record the past three seasons, cracking the top ten twice in that span. This year, the Rebels are four and one in rank 16th with a big game against KJ Jefferson in Arkansas this weekend. So onside offside, Kiffin's tenure with Ole Miss has been a disappointment thus far. I don't know how anyone could say that Lane Kiffin's tenure with Ole Miss has been a disappointment. You just said it, his record's 22 and nine what else can people expect to happen here with Lane Kiffin? Like I never viewed Lane Kiffin when he joined the SEC and joined Ole Miss as someone that was going to win an SEC championship game, and he's in such a tough division, it's kind of impossible to expect them to get to an SEC championship game appearance. So with the way that the SEC has been structured where it's really been Alabama and it's been Georgia, LSU has gotten into the fold here and there, A&M's supposed to have all this talent but they never reached those expectations. You saw Florida a few years ago get to the SEC championship game. The SEC's just too tough, maybe Kiffin one year could get the job done, but if I'm an Ole Miss fan I'm happy and I'm happy that he's still there because I thought he was going to go to Auburn this past offseason. So you asked me, Lane Kiffin's tenure with Ole Miss has been a disappointment thus far.

No, absolutely not. I'll go offside. Number four, what do we got here, Samter? James Harden's future in Philly is up in the air and after a report that his top destination Houston didn't even want to trade for him, it appears that the Clippers are the last and only team interested. The last team standing here. I know now, according to The Athletic, the Sixers want Terrence Mann and multiple first round picks for Harden as opposed to getting multiple talent to put around Joel Embiid and build a championship team there.

So it's surprising they want the picks rather than the players. However, onside offside, a trio of Harden, Paul George and Kawhi in LA would be a title contender in the West. A title contender if you're competing to be the best load management team to win an NBA championship?

Absolutely not. I don't even know where the status of Kawhi Leonard is coming off that nasty injury last year. Paul George has improved his image the way that he played in the playoffs a few years ago when Kawhi did get hurt. But James Harden's just lazy. That's a guy that just wants the paycheck, wants the fame, and he's someone that can give you some good moments, but then he gets out of shape. He goes to too many strip clubs, which, hey, enjoy yourself the way that you want to do, but he doesn't prioritize winning a championship. So no, if you would have said to me like six years ago that team was together, yeah, absolutely it'd be a super team. But in the year of 2023, there's too much wear and tear on that body.

I don't know where the commitment level is of all three of those players, so I would go offside on the trio of Harden, Paul, George, and Kawhi Leonard being a title contender. All right, last one. The New York Mets cleaned house, firing skipper Buck Showalter and accepting the resignation of GM Billy Epler. Or as Frank the Tank from Barstow says, Billy and Epler. Yeah, there you go. He was terrible.

That makes sense. Now, Showalter won 101 games last year, but underachieved with just 75 W's this year, upping his career record to 1727 and 1665, so he's above 500 with over 1700 wins over his career. Now, another new report says that Buck is interested in the Angels' new manager vacancy after they fired Phil Nevan earlier in the offseason. So onside, offside, Buck Showalter does deserve another managerial job. I think it's time to enjoy retirement if I'm Buck, because Buck is an old school manager. This is a game now where it drives me crazy, where analytics reign supreme and you have some geek upstairs really just throwing out the lineup card to a manager like Buck Showalter. I know a few years ago the Angels brought in Joe Maddon and it was a disaster and they couldn't find a way to get Trout and Otani to the postseason. If I'm Buck, you've had a great career.

You had a great year last year with the Mets until the end, and this year was just an unmitigated disaster. You could say he deserves another managerial job, so I guess I'll go onsides there because he does have a great resume. But if I was Buck, I would then go play golf, go enjoy my retirement, and then walk away from Major League Baseball and go back to television if I was him.

I thought he was good on TV when he was doing it locally in New York, and I think he did some national work as well. Alrighty, that's onside, offside today on a very busy Football Friday edition of the Zach Gelb show. We will take a break. We will talk some college football next. And from CBS Sports Network, former NFL and college player Kevin Carter is going to be joining us right here in our CBS Sports Radio Studios. Loaded slate this weekend in college football. We'll preview it with Kevin Carter next on the Zach Gelb show.

Update time first, though. Here's the act man, Rich Ackerman. Alrighty, we continue. This is the Zach Gelb show, coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. And now joining us in studio, former NFL defensive player, played his college ball at Florida, has over 100 career NFL sacks, and now is kicking ass and taking names from CBS Sports Network. That's our dear friend in Kevin Carter. Kevin, great to see you as always. How you been? Thanks for having me. Well, I appreciate you coming in, but it's tough times around here, and you're a big reason for the demise of yours truly, because you do owe me a dollar, and with the price of living here in New York City, you also told me it was going to be 100 pennies from when I beat you in a Super Bowl bet, and still I don't have that dollar, so I have to beg for change now.

This is true. Well, hopefully me coming down here to studio. I had a day off. I was in studio last night.

We had a game on our network, some Conference USA action, but hopefully coming down, this is an olive branch. This is me making things right. I think this is better than the dollar, if I'm going to be honest with you. I'll still pay you that dollar, but in the meantime, you can rest assured that I am doing the right thing. It's been like three, four years. You tell me that you're going to pay me that dollar.

That's like a girl saying, oh yeah, I'm going to call you back. Don't worry. But aren't you encouraged that I'm actually here in studio though? Isn't that cool? You're teasing us a little bit.

That's what you're doing. Let me start you off with Alabama A&M. I think everyone's trying to figure out still what is the Alabama offense, and then for A&M, I know they lost their quarterback, but Max Johnson has experience before going back to his days at LSU, but A&M's a team that has a lot of talent, and we're all wondering if they could put it together. A&M, Alabama is one of those matchups. It's like when you look at conference play across the country, there's somebody who has everyone's number. Conference games are always tricky. Every championship that you see someone hosting a trophy at the end of the season, there was a conference game that they probably should have lost, and it was someone that had no business being on the same field with them from a factual standpoint, like where they are, what their record is, how many yards, points per game, all those things, but they play this team that they know, and then they see every year, they just play them tough because they have their number. Texas A&M is that team for Alabama and has been a thorn in their side for the last couple of years, I think largely because of their ability to match up from a physical standpoint. I think along the line of scrimmage, what you're seeing is you're seeing Elko's defense. You're seeing dudes that put their hand on the ground that have been pedigreed and taught and coached in a certain way that it takes a while to build that.

When you have that going, then you see the fruits coming after, even after someone's gone. You see Mike Elko's moved on to Duke, but like I said, the remnants of the players that he developed and coached are still there. I think in the last couple of weeks, they have something like 28 or 30 tackles for a loss.

I mean something just like stupid. So this defense has decided to come on. Max Johnson has been better than 60% all season long. And when he's had it, when he's had his chance the last couple of games, he's played pretty well.

Actually had a 300 yard game, actually had a couple of touchdowns. So starting to look like he's the guy. And I think the rest of Texas A&M is starting to wake up finally. So last year in the SEC, LSU loses early in the season to Florida State.

Everyone's clowning Brian Kelly with the family videos and all those things. And everyone forgot about them. The next thing you know, they're in the SEC Championship game where they lose to Georgia. Is that happening now with A&M where they had the early loss to Miami, everyone's forgetting about them, and then they'll be in the SEC title game? Well, it very well could work out that way. Because going into this year, the SEC West was sort of an enigma, sort of wide open.

You know, not with anyone stepping up and being that heir apparent person who's going to take control. I thought coming into the season that it would be LSU. The LSU really had my had my and still, I mean, they're at a point where after having dropped one to Ole Miss is going to be a little harder for them to do it.

They'll probably beat each other up. But LSU was my team. But Texas A&M was another enigma that we just didn't know enough about because we didn't know how they would play or whether or not they would play complementary football. And I think that's what we're starting to see. The talent's always been there, but we're starting to see complementary football. Now we're seeing things kind of work out.

I was in studio last night with Danny Cannell. He thinks that Bama's going down. He thinks that since he thinks the Texas A&M has their number and Bama's going to go down. I personally think that Bama's going to win out because I think that Bama knows what it is. And I think the Bama knows what it's not. So I never pick against Alabama and I can't stand Jimbo Fisher.

I think he's one of the more overrated coaches in the country. I kind of like A&M though this weekend. It's it's definitely a game that will be interesting. It's one that I'm that I'm kind of waiting to see. We can prognosticate all we want. But even the the experts expert is going to be on bated breath kind of waiting to see what's going to happen because we really don't know.

I mean obviously we don't know any you know what's going to happen on any game but we really don't know this one. I you know looking at Alabama's offense Rodell Williams Jayce McClellan Jayden Melrose you know they're they're tough along the line of scrimmage and their defense has recommitted itself to being old Alabama defense. Like I'm talking like the standard of old like Georgia defense. Yeah you know as we're talking about I mean Georgia lost 28 players to the NFL Draft in the last two seasons but the fact that a guy like Jalen Carter is content to sit behind Jordan Davis because he trusts in the coaching and knows he's going to go first round.

That's the type of development you're talking about. So I think Bama has kind of recommitted itself to being that team because they know take everything else away. We're still five stars. We're still talented. We could still kick your butt.

You know we can find a lot of physically and beat you. And so I think giving themselves the best chance to win is kind of their plan going forward in lieu of developing you know Simpson or Buckner or whoever else is there. Kevin Carter here with us from CBS Sports Network does tremendous job as a college football analyst. You touched on LSU a little bit high expectations for LSU as well. They've been the most disappointing team to me in college football through the first few weeks. They're their defense.

And I think like I like what they're doing in the run game. I think Logan Diggs and Caleb Jackson and Josh Williams having someone basically be the leading rusher not named Jayden Daniels is was was was my was the thing that I had the biggest problem with last year. I mean Jayden Daniels is he's dynamic. He's amazing. He's going to be he's a one man wrecking crew but you can't put your quarterback in harm's way that much.

He can't be your bread and butter because you need some bread and butter when people take away your bread and butter. So so I like what they've been doing on the ground in terms of not you know running him so much but their defense came up short this past weekend and Ole Miss. I mean you give up that many points and I know Lane Kiffin can dial it up. I know he's an offensive. But but you're not going to win. You're playing big 12 football.

And that's and that's just not you know that's not going to work. So when we take a look at Kentucky I love Mark Stoops. I think he's one of the more underrated coaches in the country. I think he's a top 10 coach in the country.

And we know what he did to your alma mater last weekend. Jeez I think that Davis is still running for another touchdown. How alive is Kentucky this week against a Georgia team that people are saying is vulnerable now.

I think it's a farce. I think and I sat in studio last night and don't get me wrong we're paid to be objective and we're paid to truly investigate. And as much as I can give credit to you know Ray Davis is averaging about a buck eighteen a game. They're turning in about the Wildcats are rushing for about 170 yards per game. Their offensive line of stout their defensive line of stout their physical they're built the right way.

You know there's so many great things about what they're doing. Devin Larry's not wowing me a quarterback. OK. And then to me when you talk about making hay against Georgia you know we act like Georgia's vulnerable.

We act like that that that's actually a thing like OK. Vulnerability when you throw two two different running quarterbacks and an offense they've never seen or don't know what to think of an Auburn. Yeah you're going to have some success for a little while when Spencer Rattler comes out and he's thrown it all over the yard. He's there.

He's a good quarterback who can process you face a quarterback like that he's going to have some success for a half. You know and then they make adjustments and then we come back down to reality and I think we've seen that. But Georgia is not worried about us saying that they're vulnerable. It's the same way that we talked about the Chiefs last year in the NFL. They don't care. They don't care.

They're there right now. They know they have Carson Beck. They know they don't have Stetson Bennett. They know they don't have the twenty nine guys that are playing on Sunday right now from the last two seasons. But what they do have is a type of buy in from four and five star dudes like Jalen Carter who were waiting their turn and now it's their shot.

And they're every bit as talented as the guys who came before them and we're seeing them be realized every weekend and we're seeing them feather and and basically take the evolutionary process of the quarterback Carson Beck slowly. He doesn't have to be the guy. He doesn't have to be the guy right now.

He doesn't have to win games. We'll outpace you for a half and then we'll beat your ass in the second half and you'll lose the game. And they're going to tend to do that. Are they to you still the best team in college football until someone says different. Yes because you can't make them.

I haven't seen them not. I haven't I haven't seen them have to win a game a different way. It's a fair point that you bring up to be the champ. You've got to beat the champ. We could talk about Michigan. We could talk about the Pac 12.

You've got to find a way to beat. And if you don't push him off his perch or make him change his course he can basically still do the same thing he was doing and develop his quarterback. They can develop their quarterback at their own pace because no one's making the move. And the schedule for them stinks. The schedule is they're going to ride into the SEC championship game and it's going to be easy. And I mean but I think but I think that kind of hurts the SEC though in terms of oh you know the scenario of them possibly getting two teams and I think that's done. I think you won't have after a while you won't have significant representation in the SEC or in the top twenty five of SEC teams like you will let's say the Pac 12 right now. Let's say some other conferences and you've got two teams to get in again.

Big 10. You could very well have two teams to get in because you're going to have two elite teams at the end of the season that will be left standing and whether or whether Michigan or the Ohio State University. But you don't have that in the SEC. The SEC is going to cannibalize itself and teams are going to overachieve and some teams are going to underachieve like LSU and get beat by someone that maybe they shouldn't lose to.

And it's too hard. But that's where I think this year this is different. I think in years past we've said oh the SEC everything runs and I don't think the SEC is that strong.

The quarterback plate just isn't there across the league. Wrap it up with Kevin Carter who wins Red River this week between Oklahoma and Texas. I've got Texas.

I've got Texas. I do think we've been sleeping on Oklahoma and I said as much. I think that look when you look at their defense they came into last weekend giving up about eight and a half points a game. Dylan Gabriel is slinging at seventy five percent efficient.

You know he's only thrown a couple of interceptions and he's got over fifteen hundred yards. This team is built right but they're not elite I think in all the ways that Texas is elite. I think Texas you saw the physicality along the line of scrimmage and that's the one common denominator that I don't quite think this Oklahoma team is ready for.

And I think obviously we'll get our answer this weekend. Who's better Oklahoma and Texas. Who's going to assume that leadership role but right now it looks to be when you were in the Longhorns.

I got 30 seconds before we got to hit a break though on a scale one to 10. Where's your confidence with Billy Napier Florida. My confidence with Billy Napier is a 10 because I like because I like him. My confidence in the staff that he's assembled and to think and to be so naive to think that he will not have to replace staff and get more players.

That is the open ended part. But as far as person to person man to man I've spent time with Billy Napier. I really like who he is and I really like the process and the way that he's working his plan going about doing it.

But that doesn't mean that it don't necessarily work in this day and age in college football especially at a branded program like Florida. He is Kevin Carter. It's a great job CBS Sports Network. I've exonerated you from the dollar. I do not need the dollar anymore.

This is made up for coming in studio. Always great to see you my friend. Give me your Venmo. I thought it was 100 pennies my friend. It keeps changing. We'll take a break here. We'll come on back at a big football Friday. One more hour to play until we get out of here at 6 p.m. Eastern 3 p.m. Pacific. We still got picks to get to in the college front and the NFL as well as that guilt show coming on back after these short messages.