Take 5 Wednesday (Hour 3)

Alright, and away we go, our number 3 of our radio program. That's right, Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, the free Odyssey app, and of course streaming on YouTube. 855-212-4CBS is numbered to get on in. 855-212-4227 could always give me a follow on the good ol' cesspool of Twitter, on Instagram, or I'm always straight flexing at Zach Gelb.

That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. 5 Wednesday right here on the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. I give you my top 5 teams in the NFL and college football. Ok, let's start off with college football.

In at number 5 is Florida State. They have two really good victories when they happened. I just don't think those victories are aging well and that's the unfortunate part about college football.

I always kind of like to look at the victories when they happen compared to how they age, but that's just not the way that it's done. Florida State is going to have to win the ACC to get into the college football playoff. They expected to win the ACC, but they did beat LSU where it wasn't even close in the second half and unfortunately LSU has become one of the most disappointing team in college football this year from where the expectations were. And then you look at that Clemson game, that was a scare for Florida State. Remember they came off that not so great performance up against BC where they just able to beat Boston College. And then Jared Verst, their star defensive player told me that they were overlooking BC and then they came on back in overtime to find a way to get the job done up against Clemson. They just recently blew out Virginia Tech 39-17, but they're scheduled the rest of the way.

Syracuse, who cares? Duke, good game because of who Duke's quarterback is. Wake Forest, Pitt, Miami, North Alabama. You know the Florida game is always a big one, but I don't really believe in Florida. There's no reason why this team shouldn't be undefeated going to the ACC title game.

And then if they are undefeated and they win the ACC championship game, you know they're going to the college football playoff and I love their quarterback in Jordan Travis. Next up, into number four, it's the Ducks of Oregon. I don't know if Oregon is the best team in the Pac-12. We'll see that after this weekend because the two best teams are Oregon and Washington. Personally, I had Washington winning the Pac-12 before the season did start, but I just think the wins to put one of the Pac-12 teams in the top five and they're deserving of being in the top five because the Pac-12 this season so far has been the best conference in college football.

It was just the quality of opponents for me. Oregon beat Colorado. Oregon beat Texas Tech.

I just think their quality of opponents have been better so far than Washington. And I'll tell you this, whoever wins this game between Oregon and Washington next week, I'd be very surprised if they're not number three here in Take 5 Wednesday on the Zach Gelb show. Assuming Georgia and Michigan stay on top, Georgia and Michigan will be one and two. And I may have just spoiled a little bit of the rest of the top five results, but I would personally usurp Oregon and Washington over Oklahoma with whoever wins that game between Oregon and Washington this week. In at number three, the team that just made a huge statement up against Texas, that is Oklahoma. Remember, they got their doors blown off last year against Texas in Red River. And this go around, it looked like Oklahoma was cruising, then they were giving the game back to Texas. And for Oklahoma, similar to what I just said about Florida State, you should now run the table. You look at the Oklahoma schedule the rest of the way. There's not going to be a game where Oklahoma is going to be the underdog.

They're going to be the favorite in each and every game that they do play the rest of the way. They play UCF, they play Kansas, they play Oklahoma State, West Virginia, BYU, and TCU. Right now, that's only one team that's in the top 25 currently, and then we may get a rematch coming up in December with Oklahoma and Texas in the Big 12 title game, both their final seasons in the Big 12.

But what a win that was and what a statement that was for not only Brent Venables that things are starting to work here in year number two after a very subpar year for Oklahoma a year ago, but Dylan Gabriel has now inserted himself into the Heisman Trophy conversation with how clutch he was and how quickly he walked down the field against Texas to go get that 34-30 victory. In at number two, it's the Michigan Wolverines. I know Michigan hasn't really played anybody yet, but Nebraska had a great run defense.

They ran right through Nebraska's run defense, and now going up against Minnesota, P.J. Fleck even said it after the game, in all of his years of being a head coach, he's never seen someone as dominant as Michigan. Now, there is Georgia the last two years. There's been Alabama, and I don't have it right in front of me.

All the teams that P.J. Fleck has played, I don't know if he played against Alabama so far as a coach. I don't know if he's played up against Georgia, but you see how dominant Michigan has the potential to be with what they've done the last two years, and I watch a ton of Michigan football. I think this Michigan team is better than the team of the last two years, where their offensive line is still one of the best in the country. J.J. McCarthy is ready to take that next step. Roman Wilson is a really good underrated wide receiver. There's just so many talented players. Colston Loveland, you have Cornelius Johnson still there, and you got a great lethal one-two punch in the backfield with Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards as well, and that defense is a defense that you saw last year up against Ohio State. It can make game-changing plays against elite talent. So Michigan in at number two, and then number one, Georgia's best opponent yet, and it ended up being the most lopsided game in the game that you could just throw on the flag early if you were Mark Stoops and Kentucky and come up with some excuses that will play for you later on in the show, but Georgia with a dominant performance.

Carson Beck starting to show you that he's a really damn good quarterback. Georgia's going to be a team, just what their schedule is, that it would be a shock if they're not undefeated heading into that SEC title game, and then you take care of business in the SEC title game. Then you're undefeated once again, and you're off to another college football playoff, and you have a great chance to go back to back to back as national champions as Kirby Smart continues to get the job done. Alrighty, let's go.

Speak now, forever hold your peace. Florida State in at five, Oregon four, Oklahoma three, Michigan two, Georgia one. Gentlemen, who are some teams that maybe we should be talking about being in this top five? Samter, Stu, which one of you? Let's go.

One of you, take the baton here. There's really not a lot of teams that I would put otherwise into this top five. Maybe Penn State, but I just, I'm not a believer, I'm not a buyer in Penn State quite yet. I just want to see them at least up against one of the big boys, but there's just, it seems like there's more. Well, you'll see that in Penn State when they go up against Michigan and Ohio State. And I think up against Ohio State, Ohio State could be vulnerable. Against Michigan, I don't think that Penn State's going to beat Michigan. So, you look at Penn State, that's why they haven't really played anybody yet, and that's why they're not in the top five. Alright, so I guess some of the other teams, maybe Ohio State? Well, I'm just not impressed with Ohio State. Like, they beat Notre Dame, I was more disappointed with Notre Dame than I was impressed with Ohio State.

And that game against Maryland, I know it indicates it was a blowout because it was a 20-point game, but that was not a blowout. That was a close game that they were going back and forth, and then ultimately the talent did prevail for the Ohio State. How about the Washington Huskies?

We had Kalen DeBoer on yesterday. What are your thoughts on them? I like them a lot. I think they could be the best team in the Pac-12. I just got to see it after this weekend because the tiebreaker right now is just Oregon has played a better schedule so far than Washington. And last but not least, Nick Saban and those Bama Crimson Tide. So, it's very similar to the way that I view Ohio State with Alabama. So, Alabama, and I know the difference is Ohio State's undefeated, and Alabama isn't. But Alabama lost to Texas by 10, then everyone freaked out about the quarterback. They benched the quarterback in Jalen Milro, then they did nothing offensively up against USF. And then it got into a situation where, yeah, Alabama, they had two nice victories and then they beat A&M. But I walked away from that game saying, okay, we know Alabama has a good defense, we know Milro's getting better, but A&M was the better team in that game at 17-10, then it gets to 17-17.

And then you just had Jimbo Fisher get super conservative, not going for it on 4th and 1 and punting the football, and then the game was over. Alabama's got to run the table in the regular season and then in the SEC title game to get in because we've never seen a team with two losses before get into the college football playoff. I'm just not buying into Alabama this season against three teams right now that are in the top 25 still in the regular season schedule. I'm just not buying that they're only going to have one loss at the end of the year.

Alrighty, that's the college part of it, now let's go to the NFL. In at number five, this team at the end of the year could be the third best team in the NFC. But right now, they are showing you that they're easily going to win the NFC North, which the Lions haven't won a division championship since 1993, and now it goes more than that.

We're talking about a team that needs to win a playoff game for the first time since 1991. But the last two weeks, or really three weeks with the Lions, I've been really impressed with them and here's why. It's one thing when you go on the road to start the year and it's their best win taking care of Kansas City, even though Kansas City was without Travis Kelce in the game and then Chris Jones. But then the next week, they lose to Seattle, 37-31, and overtime again that they were leading at the half, 14-7. Tyler Lockett goes for two touchdowns for the Seahawks, and the next thing you know, Lockett's walking off the field after the game with the game-winning touchdown.

So when you have that moment of adversity, it's how you respond. And even though Atlanta's not a great team, Green Bay's not a great team, and we know the Panthers are the worst team in the league, this team responded with three straight wins. And even if it wasn't pretty against Atlanta, the game wasn't close, it was 20-6, then they blew out the Packers, 34-20, and they just beat the snot out of the Carolina Panthers.

And how many times do we see teams play down to their competition? The Lions haven't done that yet, and Aidan Hutchinson's been a stud, Jared Goss's been a really good quarterback, and you know Amal Ross, St. Brown, even though he's been banged up, is a good wide receiver in David Montgomery back-to-back 100-yard rushing weeks. That's a team that's definitely with the coach and Dan Campbell moving in the right direction. In at number four, I think the Seahawks and Lions are splitting hairs. They're both really good teams and have potential to be the third best team in the NFC. But the reason why the Seahawks are in at four, and it's not the Lions in at four, is because they went head-to-head, and Seattle walked into Detroit and walked out with the victory. In at number three, it's the Kansas City Chiefs.

When you look at Kansas City, until someone takes off the cape of Superman, I'm still calling him Superman. Like from a talent perspective, Kansas City doesn't have the most talented roster in the AFC. But you have Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce survived this injury scare, you got Chris Jones back on that modified deal, which they barely did anything to it.

You look at those three players with Andy Reid as your coach, we keep on saying the Chiefs are vulnerable. People said it last year, and they ended up walking away with the Lombardi Trophy in a Super Bowl championship. So with teams emerging in the AFC, but then losing right after that and falling back, it's wide open. I put Kansas City in at number three. In at number two, people aren't going to like this, but it's still the 49ers for me.

I know the 49ers just had a dominant, I mean dominant, victory up against the Dallas Cowboys, and Brock Purdie's rocking out with his Brock out. And you have Deebo Samuel, you have Kittle with three touchdowns, you have Ayuk, you have a great defense led by Bosa and Warner, you have phenomenal coaching Kyle Shanahan. I just think people are looking at the Eagles, who are my team in at number one, and it's like we're nitpicking with Philadelphia.

Oh, they're winning all their games, but they're not winning by enough points. Remember, the Eagles are coming off a Super Bowl loss with, oh yeah, by the way, they beat the 49ers in the NFC championship game. So if we're worrying about style points with the Eagles, and the Eagles could still play a better brand of football, I'm not just going to get caught up in one performance where it really displays, sure, how great the 49ers are, but how the Cowboys just aren't a title contender yet. So I put the 49ers in at two, the Eagles at one.

You could really make it one and one A here. They're going to play later in the season, but before the year I thought the Eagles were slightly better than the 49ers, and so far, through five games, 49ers haven't lost, Eagles haven't lost. So I still give the tiebreaker to the team that I went with before the season in the Eagles. So Lions in at five, Seahawks in at four, Chiefs in at three, 49ers in at two, and then the Eagles in at one. You could almost tie the Eagles in 49ers, I feel like, but that's the way that we're going to do it. You have to pick one team for each slot.

All right, Samster, speak now, forever hold your peace. What do we got here with the remaining teams that weren't in my top five? I mean, how can you leave off the Jacksonville Jaguars who just impressed out in London against those pesky Buffalo Bills? Well, it's because that Kansas City game still sticks out to me, where, yes, that was an impressive victory up against Buffalo. Calvin really made a big catch on third down. Travis ATN took over the game.

Trevor Lawrence was really good. But they've just been too inconsistent. They didn't play well against the Colts. Then they lose to the Chiefs in a game where the Chiefs only scored 17 points.

They lose to the Texans by 20. Yeah, they beat Atlanta in back-to-back games in London. And then the Buffalo game is their best win of the season. But Buffalo is also a team that we're trying to figure out what the Buffalo Bills are as well, because they lose to the Jets earlier in this year. And you see this Buffalo team, they just lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars. So I keep the Jaguars out just because this Jacksonville team, they've been split against the elite competition. And also, I only have one AFC team in there, and the Jaguars lost to Kansas City.

Next team. The Miami Flying Dolphins. They have a great offense. Their offense is spectacular.

Off to a historical start, even though Mike McDaniel doesn't care about the historical start through the first five games of the season. It's that Buffalo game. Up against Buffalo two weeks ago, you got blown out. You'll probably be back in the top five at the end of the year.

You don't need to play Jalen Phillips this weekend against the Carolina Panthers, but Phillips is going to be their biggest key this year, because they need more consistency on the defensive side of the ball, and that's a dude that could be a game wrecker. So it's that game up against Buffalo that just keeps them outside of the top five for now. And we could put a wrap on that. Because, what, are you going to ask me about the Bills next, I'm assuming? I was going to ask you about the Bills. And I felt like I already just explained it with the Jaguars. Just for Buffalo, we've seen this team lose to Jacksonville. We've seen them lose to the Jets. It feels like there's a different gear for the Buffalo Bills where they could play better.

And whenever they start to show it, then they just fall down. And yes, Stephon Diggs blowing up on the sideline. So, the five teams in the NFL, Lions in at 5, Seahawks in at 4, Chiefs in at 3, 49ers in at 2, Eagles in at 1, and in college football, Florida State in at 5, Oregon at 4, Oklahoma 3, Michigan 2, and Georgia 1. And this is that Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. Jordy Nelson joins us next. Alright, it is the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio.

Let's go out to the guest line right now. Welcome in a former NFL wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers, who also wrapped up his career with the Raiders. That is Jordy Nelson, who is here with us today on behalf of the Fight for First. Make sure you visit thefightforfirst.com. Jordy, always appreciate the time.

Thanks for it. How are you? I'm doing great. How are you doing?

I'm doing fantastic. I've got to take you back to week one. We were all watching it with your former quarterback Aaron Rodgers going up against the Buffalo Bills in four plays into his Jets career. He suffers the Achilles injury. What were you thinking when you saw a friend of yours and a former quarterback of yours, Aaron Rodgers, go through that?

Obviously, it's a point for him. First and foremost, every year you go through so much to get prepared for a season. Obviously, you don't want any injury to happen, but for it to happen that fast and everything that was built up with him and the Jets and how excited they were to get going is very deflating. Obviously, I've been through a season-ending injury before and know what it does to you, especially that early in the season.

That was just kind of gutted right from the get-go. Was it weird for you how this whole offseason played out? We knew Rodgers and the Packers, once they drafted Jordan Love, there was inevitably going to be a split. But when it became finalized that he's going to New York and that career in Green Bay is wrapping up, was that just bizarre for you to see? I think more bizarre is how much it just matched what happened with Brett Favre. To have two Hall of Fame quarterbacks back-to-back for an organization and then pretty much for it to end the exact same way is pretty crazy to add on top of it.

I didn't talk so much about it, just let it all play out. Honestly, I was excited to see what he was going to do in New York. Hopefully, he can get healthy and come back next year and we'll still get that opportunity. What do you think the Jets are getting? I know it's kind of like a stupid question, what are the Jets getting at Aaron Rodgers? But you knowing the way that he's wired, coming off an injury like that, what type of Aaron Rodgers do you think the Jets fan will see next year, assuming he's able to recover from the Achilles injury?

The fans don't see what the difference will make inside the locker room, inside the classroom. Just the work that he demands from everyone, mentally more than physically, and understanding the details of everything. That's what separates him and the guys. Honestly, we're able to get in connection with him with the details.

If you can gather the details and fine-tune those, you'll have success with them. Talking to Jordy Nelson right now on the Zach Gelb show. Let's get to the new quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, Jordan Love.

I know he's been there for the last few years, but now five games in, with him being the no-doubt-about-it QB one for the Packers, and we'll see how long that does last. You being a former Packer, what advice would you give to Jordan Love as he's embarking on this first full season as a starter? Just continue to work.

There's no special sauce to it. It's all just about work and learning and growing and retaining the good and the bad. Learn from your mistakes, learn from what you did better and what you did good, and just continue to grow. It's not going to be easy.

If anyone thought it was going to be, they're out of their mind. I don't know what the numbers were, but when Aaron took over for the first year, we went 6-10. It might have been a little different with the output we were having, but there's going to be bumps and bruises along the way. The way you handle those and develop through that and learn will make you the player you want to be. Did you see Rodgers right away? Was he comfortable when he took over that team? Because there's always, naturally, you're living in the shadow of the guy that was there before you, and you know the way that Brett Favre was perceived in Green Bay and the quarterback he was. The same thing's happening right now for Jordan Love, where you're replacing a legend, and you know that there's a certain standard there in Green Bay. Yeah, I think he was confident in what he could do, but I think there's kind of a grace period of taking over the locker room, if you will, as the leader of the team, making sure everyone else is on board with you. Obviously, if you're a younger guy and you have a bunch of older guys on the team, when Aaron came in, it's getting their confidence and their belief in him. I think Jordan has a little bit different just because how young the team is. He's been growing with these guys, and they've been there since he's been there.

It sounds like, from what you hear, the guys believe in him and know that he can go out and do it, and he's done it a couple times. Just as a young quarterback and as a young team, you're going to have the good games, you're going to have the bad games, and you just got to fight through the highs and lows and try to become consistent. Talking to Jordy Nelson right now, I know Christian Watson has been struggling to stay on the field.

Now, back with the Packers, what are your expectations in your number two for Christian Watson? I think the main thing is just continue to grow and be more consistent. I think any receiver or any player in the NFL who thinks and wants to be one of the premier guys, it's not whether or not you can do it.

There's a lot of guys that can do it. It's whether or not you can do it week in and week out and consistently be who you're supposed to be, being on the field, making plays every week for 17 weeks now. So, that I think is the biggest jump that all young guys have to make is understand how important consistency is, and not only on Sundays, but honestly Mondays through Fridays when you're at practice and leading the team and showing that you can make the plays every day in practice, and that's how you stay consistent and your confidence grows.

We talked about, right, what Jordan loved, that he has to prove it. I also look at Matt Lafleur and say, okay, he now has to prove that he can get the job done without having Aaron Rodgers there. Where's your confidence in Matt Lafleur leading this Packers team?

I mean, I think it's high. Obviously, there's going to be a feel-out process for all of them, and they'll figure out what they like to do together, what works, what doesn't work. I mean, the receivers are still extremely young. Obviously, they're dealing now without their left tackle, so there's a lot of it offensively that they just got to continue to grind through. It's going to be different for a year, but they're in positions to win games.

They've been able to pull out some games, and so they just got to keep battling through it. Wrapping up with Jordy Nelson, I know in the summer you got a pretty nice honor getting inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame. Clearly, that means a lot to you, but how did you describe that moment when you found out that news?

Pretty surreal. I think when you're playing, at least for myself, you don't ever think about that stuff or talk about your accolades or your yards and your catches, but after your career, when it all comes to an end, you get that reward of being able to go into the Packers Hall of Fame of one of the best organizations there is in sports. It was a lot of fun, and to be able to go in with Josh Sitton, who was drafted the same year I was, is pretty unique. To be able to be drafted the same year, win a Super Bowl together, having to go to the Pro Bowl together, and then get to go to the Hall of Fame together, it was a lot of fun. I know it was an ugly split with McCarthy and the Packers, but since he was your coach and Mike's gone on to have two 12-win seasons with the Cowboys, bad performance the other night, clearly against the 49ers, but if you had to speak to me a little bit about what kind of coach Mike McCarthy is and what he did for your career, how would you kind of explain that? I love Mike. Everything he did in Green Bay and what he did not only for me on the field but off the field as well with some different things me and my family had going on. I think he's a great offensive mind. He demands a lot from guys. He makes them work.

Yeah, like you said, having success at two premier organizations is big, and he'll continue to have that. Tell me what you're doing today, the Fight4First.com, and with this Fight4First campaign. Yeah, so Fight4First is a part of Compassion International. So their big thing is to help these pregnant moms in extreme poverty get their kid first born and then to their first birthday. So a lot of, as we all know, who have kids, babies are very vulnerable at a young age. So if we can get these kids to a year through their first birthday, they can have success and are better off. There's a lot of babies that don't make it. Every year there's nearly 4 million babies that don't survive to their first birthdays, which is just extremely crazy. So Fight4First allows them to get that accomplished. It provides prenatal care, nutritious food and clean water, assistance through childbirth, medical treatments, and then even on to help the kids develop as they go through their first year of life.

Then once they hit one, they're able to get into Compassion International's program and have a very successful childhood through that. Well, last thing I'll ask you, Jordy Nelson, and once again you can visit the Fight4First.com for more information. If you were still on this Packers team and you were in that huddle and you see Jordan Love, what is your thoughts on the quarterback that you have and your view on the quarterback for Green Bay currently? I think you'd be confident in him. I think he makes good throws. He makes good decisions. He's athletic enough to make the plays with the feet.

So you step in there confident and they just got to get healthy and stay healthy and things will be in good shape. Jordy Nelson, appreciate the time. Thanks so much for doing this.

Thank you. There you go, Jordy Nelson with us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Okay, we'll take a break right now. When we do return, I got to get into what one college football coach said over the weekend after a loss and it's now becoming a conversation and it's just sour grapes and I hate, and I like this coach a lot, but I hate when coaches do this after a loss. We'll tell you who that coach is and what he said when we continue right here on CBS Sports Radio.

Update time first, though. Here's the act man, Rich Ackerman. We continue Zach Gelb show, CBS Sports Radio. It's time to answer our Ask the Pros question of the day and it's brought to you by O'Reilly Auto Parts. Chatting Green Bay asks Zach, would you rather have Justin Fields or Jordan Love for the next five years as your quarterback? You could submit a question by tweeting at CBS Sports Radio or at Zach Gelb, Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B using the hashtag Ask the Pros. Think 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. It's an interesting question because if we're just talking about the individual player, I've seen more of Justin Fields going back to college and going to the NFL than I have out of Jordan Love. But with that being said, you do trust the Packers environment, even with the uncertainties of what Gudekunz is and what Lafleur is as a head coach without Aaron Rodgers, more than you trust whatever's going on with the Chicago Bears. But the Bears probably going to have two top five picks in the draft this year. And that means Justin Fields could end up being out of town. You would think there's a new coach and a new GM next year, which also means that Justin Fields could be out of town. But if it's just who is the individual player that I believe in more, I do believe in more of Justin Fields because we haven't seen much of Jordan Love. It doesn't mean Jordan Love could be a really good player, but even going back to Jordan Love's day in college, he had one really good year and the next year a coaching change, offensive line change, a bunch of weapons that did change as well. And I think Jordan Love is more of potential, right? Everyone's selling you off the idea of potential with Jordan Love compared to Fields. We know he has to improve in the passing game, but I've seen Justin Fields be a good player before. And now it's can you translate that into being a good NFL and a good college player? So I think the upside and also what we've seen before is a lot higher with Justin Fields than it is Jordan Love.

But ultimately, I do think Justin Fields is playing somewhere else next year. And as for Jordan Love, it's these next two years where you better kick ass and start to show that you belong because if you don't take advantage of this two year window, you'll get this year. And there's been some good.

There's been some bad with what he's been able to do so far. But you need to emerge at the end of the season, giving five to ten tangible moments where people can say, OK, there's a reason to believe in Jordan Love. And whether you do that or not, at the end of this season, you're getting next year because the tenure of Brian Gudekunz in Green Bay is going to be determined on how how much longer it lasts. I know it's not a traditional organization based off of what Jordan Love turns out to be, because that was Gudekunz decision to take that shot and to say, OK, we think Aaron Rodgers trending in the wrong direction and we got to go trade up in the draft to get this guy Jordan Love, which it's always bizarre to me that the Packers did that, not in terms of saying, OK, we got to find the guy that's going to replace eventually Aaron Rodgers, but they traded up to get Jordan Love. Because with the reporting of that, there was no one from the way that it was been reported that they legitimately feared was going to trade up in the first round. That was in front of or was trying to move up in front of the Green Bay Packers to select Jordan Love. Like if they would have just drafted Love where they were and didn't trade up to get him. I don't think the backlash would have been as strong as where it was. Now, you could still say, hey, you're not getting another playmaker around Rodgers. Rodgers still would have been annoyed with it. But with them moving up a few spots to do it, it made it seem as if it was a necessity and they had to do it.

And that's where I thought this thing got really messy. But to answer Chad and Green Bay's original question, I would rather have Fields and Love because Love is based off potential. I know there's still room for Fields to grow, but I've already seen enough out of Justin Fields, where I know he has the capability of being a good quarterback. Now, can he put it all together?

And also, can he get in a better situation? Because let's be real, quarterbacks pretty much in the football world go to die when they go to the Chicago Bears. Alrighty. Let me get to this.

And I teased it before the break. So I like Mark Stoops a lot. I said this a few weeks ago that Mark Stoops is one of the more underrated coaches in college football. I think Mark Stoops is the 10th best coach in college football as well. What he has done at Kentucky is really special. He made them relevant. And also inside the university, they started to show respect to their football program, where when you have John Calipari saying, oh, we're a basketball school.

Like, no crap. Everyone knows Kentucky is a basketball school. But Stoops was so annoyed by that comment where it forced the basketball coach in the legendary John Calipari to retire. I mean, to apologize. And he had to apologize for what he said and said what I said was not right. Which for that to happen at Kentucky, where basketball, I know football drives the train now in college athletics, but basketball in Kentucky, if you're the coach there, you're the king. Usually the king doesn't have to say or genuflect and bend the knee to somebody else and say, oh, I actually got that one wrong.

You were actually right. But that's what happened at Kentucky, where we all know that Calipari and that program is still the king at that school. But Stoops has done a really good job putting players in the NFL and having a few 10-win seasons and taking the program against rivals in the SEC to levels that they haven't gone in a long time. So Kentucky comes off that big win against Florida, where they win by 20-something points. And then they go up against Georgia and people are like, oh, maybe this is a game.

I didn't think it was going to be a game. I think I forgot what the spread was, but I laid the 14. I think it was 14 and a half points, which is very low. I laid the 14 and a half points against Georgia because Georgia didn't play a great game yet. And usually that's just the way that it works when you're a really great team and people are overlooking you. And people are saying, ah, you didn't play great against South Carolina, didn't play great against your other decent opponent.

And you had to find a way to get a Brock Bowers touchdown late to pull out a victory. I believe that was up against Auburn. Oh, Georgia's vulnerable. Georgia's vulnerable. And then you go up against Kentucky, who's just coming off that big win, then gets inserted into the top 20. Everyone's starting to really buzz in Kentucky, saying, hey, Kentucky probably won't win the game, but they're alive to make it a close game.

And then what happens over the weekend? An absolute blowout. So when coaches losing college football, this is my favorite thing.

And it's also a thing that I hate, if that makes any sense. But when coaches losing college football, they do a really crappy job in the press conference. A lot of coaches use lame excuses to justify the loss.

We all know that Georgia is just a much better program than Kentucky, right? You at least like to show up, have a pulse in the game. But there's no shame in losing to Georgia. And you just got to move on from the loss. I know you got to talk about the loss, but you got to take accountability and then just move on. But when you say lame things, that's when it makes you just look worse.

And that's what it makes you look like a sore loser, sour grapes. And I didn't think Mark Stoops was this guy. And I have a lot of respect for Mark Stoops. But when you make lame excuses, it's just like, dude, what are you doing? Like it's so unnecessary and it's so avoidable. So here's Mark Stoops on his weekly radio show, The Mark Stoops Show, on the blowout loss to Georgia.

And then he used the excuse of NIL. The other side, if you want to do that, it's blame, complain, deny or make excuses. And we're not going to do that. You know, fans have that right. I give it to them. I just encourage them to donate more because that's what those teams are doing.

And I could promise you in Georgia, they bought some pretty good players you're allowed to these days. And we could use some help. That's what they look like. You know what I mean? When you have 85 of them.

So I encourage anybody that's disgruntled to pony up some more. He's not wrong, but it's still lame in when he said it. And you know who it reminds me of? It's the same thing Saban did. And I know it's totally different with the head coach of Alabama compared to the head coach of Kentucky with the resources that Alabama has. But if you recall last year when Saban went after Jimbo Fisher and he was like, oh, they just buy their players.

Where do you do it at? Saban did that at a like a small like business conference or there was some event where he was speaking at. And he was basically saying to the people of Alabama, we want more of your money.

Spend more of your money so we could basically have more NIL money so we could go buy more players. That was the motive of Saban. And he took that shot at Jimbo Fisher and then it became this big deal. And then you had to have someone sit between the two of them at SEC Media Days.

Like, let's be real, those two old men were never going to be throwing down anyway. Where Jimbo Fisher holds an impromptu press conference, you know, waved his finger and went after Nick Saban and all that jazz. But that's why Saban did it.

And sometimes there's a little extra more meaning to the words. And for Mark Stoops, I didn't think he would stoop to that level. No pun intended, but I didn't think he would stoop to that level of using a lame excuse and using the platform that way. But when you're doing a local radio show and I'm assuming he's probably at a bar doing one of these shows and there's some big boosters and donors and big time fans. He's basically saying, you want us to beat Georgia? Go donate more money so we have more NIL dollars allocated to the players. And that's what he elected to do.

I don't love the answer. I think it makes it look lame and basically saying, oh, well, if he had more money and 85 guys like Georgia has with all the money that they make, that we'd be able to compete with them. But you couldn't even make it competitive. You have enough resources right now and you have a good enough team where that game should have been closer. It's just a lot of people continue to sleep on Georgia this year because sometimes you get fatigued and we all know Georgia's lost a lot of talent. It's like, oh, can they keep this machine humming?

There's no doubt about it that Georgia could keep that machine humming. Here's Kirby Smart, the head coach of the Bulldogs, reacting to Mark Stoops NIL comments on his radio show. That reaction is much to do about nothing really. I think Mark's trying to garner interest and money from his fan base for his collective. We're all trying to do the same in terms of trying to get money for our collective. Mark and I talked about NIL pre-game. We talk about it in our meetings.

So I'm not biting on that. That's actually, Kirby Smart's basically saying, I'm the king. I'm at top of the throne.

I know all these, I don't want to say peasants, but I know all these people are going to try to be sucking up to me or they're going to be taking shots at me to try to knock me off my perch. He was right in what Kirby Smart said. He goes, Mark is speaking to his fan base. Mark is speaking to people that are part of the NIL collective in terms of this bank where you donate money and all that stuff and how you allocate it and things you need to do for players and things like that for players to earn their money.

He gets it, right? That's Kirby Smart saying, all right, I'll give one, I'll give a little life to the little guy there, you know, to a smaller program, to an inferior program. They want to take a shot at big bad Georgia and how much money that we have and all the resources everyone tries to figure out NIL and all that.

Let them go ahead and do it. And if that gets him more money, we embrace that competition. We're still Georgia. We'll still kick their ass.

We'll still beat them each and every time we play them. So it's actually not as bad of an exchange as I originally thought. I don't like that Stoops did that.

But Stoops is utilizing that platform to speak to his intended audience because he knows to continue to grow this thing, you're going to need more NIL money. And then I you know, it's rare where if you want to say it's taken a shot at Georgia, which is like weird. Okay, sure.

Georgia has great resources. What? Now we have to take a shot at them. But when Stoops does that, usually coaches get petulant and then it becomes a you know what swinging contest.

And then Kirby Smart, right? He fires back. Santa loves it. I just used that phrase on a national radio show, but it's true. How many times when you have coaches with ego here, it's like, oh, you say this about my school?

Oh, I'm going to say this about your school. And then you just like punch down a little guy, which is so unnecessary. And Kirby's like, hey, I get it. You know, we're the kings right now. We can't do anything wrong. Let's say what he wants.

And all right, if he goes raise a few extra million, we're still going to beat the start out of them to help the exchange. Now, you said, you know what swinging contest? I don't know what. What are you talking about?

Well, that's all the time that we actually have today on the show on CBS Sports Radio. Maybe the eggplant emoji, as the kids would say, that purple eggplant emoji. Now, you know what I'm talking about?

I'm not a kid. I have no idea what the eggplant emoji means. OK, I'm hungry. I'll then send you a prank picture where it's like breaking news. This thing happened. The world's like, oh, my goodness. Grace is something big. And then it ends up being what I'm saying that, you know, what actually is it has nothing to do with breaking news. Toes?

Geez, I don't know where your mind is. Rex Ryan and Samter hanging out, I guess, on a on a Wednesday evening fun show today. Appreciate everyone in the chat. Appreciate everyone listening to us, tweeting us, interacting with us as well.

You can always give me a follow on social media at Zach Geld, ZACH GLB. Big thanks to Samter. Big thanks to Kovacs. Kovacs too.

Call some Kovacs. But anyway, we'll be back tomorrow at 3 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific. We out. Bye bye. Peace.