Turkey On Thanksgiving Sucks! (Hour 2)

Ew. Gotta get rid of this old Backstreet Boys t-shirt. Tell me why! Because it stinks, boys. Tell me why! I've washed it so many times, but the odor won't come out.

Tell me why. No, you tell me why I can't get rid of this odor. Have you tried Downy Rinse & Refresh? It doesn't just cover up odors. It helps remove them. Wow, it worked, guys.

Yeah, yeah. Downy Rinse & Refresh removes more odor in one wash than the leading value detergent in three washes. Find it wherever you buy laundry products. And away we go, hour number two of our radio program.

It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, the Free Odyssey app, and of course on YouTube. And if you watch us streaming on YouTube, as the chat has pointed out, I guess it is sweaty in this studio right now because people in the chat are calling out my pit stains today. Now I'm wearing a sweatshirt and I'm wearing a sweatshirt because it's starting to get cold out in New York City. I don't feel hot right now.

So sometimes you have people comment on your appearance and they think they're like a know-it-all and they end up being a bunch of dopes. But then I looked under my armpits and I'm like, yep, they're definitely sweaty and it's definitely visible. So if there's ever a reason right now that you have not listened to our YouTube stream and you've only listened to us on the radio and you haven't watched us on YouTube, you have to go on now to see my pit stains. That's what you need to do when you watch the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. But Stu, it is getting a bit chilly. I started to realize that this week.

I think it is time on November 2nd and I usually hold out on this, but it's retiring short season right now. Last week it was 80 last weekend or two weekends ago I think it was 80 and then all of a sudden this cold front comes where now we're down to like 40 degrees. But it is windy today in New York City. And even I said, OK, I got to put on some jeans. I got to put on a sweatshirt. But in some way, well, it's a bunch of lights in these studios and it's at times a thousand degrees in this studio. Now my pits are sweating.

So maybe they're telling me a different story here, Stu. Yeah, it's tough. I know the other day I wore just a sweatshirt and I was like, this is short stuff. No shorts, jeans, but like just a sweatshirt.

And I was like, this is a massive mistake. I think it's jacket weather. So today was the first first jacket wear of the season for Stu. So November means two things.

You may have to start retiring short season and also, Sam, to be very careful how you're going to respond to this, because I don't want you to get in trouble with Mr. Musk and get your Twitter account suspended again. But we are now 22 days away from my favorite holiday of the year. And that is Thanksgiving, because Thanksgiving is all about food, family and football. And yes, in that order, food one, family two, football three. And I never ranked football third.

It's usually always one for me because I consider football to be a religion. But since we're on in a new time slot, you may be able to understand where I'm coming from or you know where I'm coming from. But as we get closer and closer to Thanksgiving, this should have been a part of my Zach Gelb show PSA, actually.

I need to take a stance. And the stance that I take is that Turkey is overrated. And everyone, right, in three weeks gathers around the table. Here comes the turkey. We love the turkey.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And when you go home at night, stuffed like a fat pig, you go, huh, that turkey was a little dry. That turkey's not that good. I'm never going to have that turkey the rest of the year. And Turkey is overrated. That's what you all say. And I'm the voice for the voiceless here, folks. We don't do turkey anymore in the Gelb household on Thanksgiving.

Our main course is lasagna and it is absolutely delicious. And Santa got so annoyed by this take a few years ago, I think this was two years ago, that Santa, maybe even three now, Santa wanted to go after me on Twitter and then someone, it wasn't me. But Santa, sure it wasn't, got reported and they took away his Twitter account because he was harassing me online. It wasn't because I was harassing you. It was because I threatened violence against you.

And that's why I got suspended. Yeah, which I wasn't really concerned about your violence. Listen, anybody who thinks that what I said was actually threatening violence against you, I said I should throw you into a turkey pit and let the turkeys peck you to death. Good, bring them on those wild turkeys. That got me suspended because it's turkey violence, right? Like if it was just me committing violence against you, I'm sure I would have been fine, but it's animal violence against you. Oh really, so PETA was calling?

I don't know, something like that. But you know what, Turkey's overrated. I did buy Twitter suspension or not.

First of all, Elon's not going to suspend me for that because he's wide open. Twitter suspension or not, I will still today and forever have a turkey peck you to death for that damn lasagna on Thanksgiving. It is an affront to Thanksgiving. It is an affront to our ancestors and the pilgrims and the wonderful day that Thanksgiving is. I cannot believe that you throw turkey to the side. It is disgusting. It is despicable. And I look at you as less of a person because of your family's decision.

Okay, that's fine. I'm just saying there's a lot of people that end up texting me on the side or tweeting me on the side or DM me and they go, thank you. Like even if they don't do lasagna, that's fine. But turkey being your main course, it's bad. And let's be real, the only way turkey's actually good is if you deep fry it and cover it in like some Cajun seasoning. Outside of that, regular turkey, boring, dry, pedestrian.

But, Santa, I'm sure... That's why you have the sides, you have the stuffing, you have the cranberry, you have all the other different things. You have the horseradish and you have all those amazing delicious things to go along with the turkey. And it becomes a smorgasbord of flavor in your mouth.

It becomes very moist, some would say. You can have lasagna any day. Look how much work you need to do to make your turkey moist. You can't have turkey and the smorgasbord of Thanksgiving togetherings every day.

You're just a sheep, that's what you are. Oh, we do all these traditions, we gotta follow in line. Well, the world's changing.

It's 2023 for crying out loud. Most of you go to your Thanksgiving table and you say, wow, this is what we're having? Turkey?

Really? And you know what? Our boss, one of our bosses, Chris Olivero, once said, why are you yelling at people about turkey and eating turkey on Thanksgiving? And I said, Chris, because it's overrated. I go, name me one other day outside of Thanksgiving that you're doing turkey. I'm not talking about like a turkey sandwich that you get at the deli. But where you're making the birds, you're carving it up, you're having all the stuffing and all that.

If it was that good, you would do it more often, but you don't. And he goes, Zach, you're right. And that's from The Architect. That's from one of the head honchos here at CBS Sports Radio and Odyssey. And what he says goes. So he said, I'm right.

I'm not backing down. I will say this, outside of cooking a whole turkey and carving it up and having it on the table, I think people have turkey quite often throughout the year. Deli sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, whether it's in a package, a streak cut out of a deli. People have turkey a lot more often than just on Thanksgiving. Cooking a whole turkey is a huge process that takes hours.

So that's probably why people don't do it on a day to day basis. They don't want to cook for seven hours. Do you know when my dad starts the lasagna sauce making process? Next week, he starts that process. So I don't want to hear, it takes too long.

Oh, there's so much work to be done. Bob Gelb should hit you over the head with a wooden spoon, for crying out loud, with your with your jackassery or bulge junk that I'm hearing the last few hours. Can't wait to go to an Italian restaurant any day this year and get some lasagna. But it's different. The Gelb lasagna just hits different. Ask Moist Pork. Moist Pork is even in the chat room right now. And he's saying the Gelb lasagna does look pretty, pretty, pretty good. It does.

So anyway, I have another issue to fight. Nabisco. You know Nabisco? They've had their famous Nabisco chocolate wafer around since like 1920 something. Out of nowhere, they discontinue it this year.

So now I have to find an alternative for the Nabisco chocolate wafer to make my famous cookie cake icebox cake as well. So Thanksgiving is already off to a rough start. We're going to get a definitive answer. I just put up a poll.

You either hate turkey on Thanksgiving or turkey on Thanksgiving is a must. Yeah, but people are afraid to speak out because people like you then shame them. They're anonymous.

They can speak out all they want and not get judged or thought negatively about. Big Brother's always watching. So people are going to be afraid. They're going to be afraid to answer that poll. They better be afraid. Anyone who votes against turkey on this poll, I'm coming after you.

You know what? I'm going to maybe sound like someone that is a political figure. I'm not accepting the results of this poll, the results of this election. I'm just not doing it.

I don't care. I'm telling you. I'm right.

You're wrong. That's just the way that it goes. Anyway, let's go to Mike Florio. He was on with us yesterday. We were talking about coaches on the hot seat. And Mike Florio, then out of nowhere, brings up Bill Belichick potentially getting traded to the Washington commanders.

Listen up. I'm hearing chatter to this effect. Not that it's reporting, but when you're plugged into the NFL grapevine and you hear something like this, it's too good to keep to yourself. There's a theory out there that when the season ends, Josh Harris, the new owner, excuse me, the commanders is going to call the Patriots about what it would take to to get Bill Belichick. So the Patriots wouldn't fire him. The Patriots would essentially trade him to Washington and avoid any further financial obligation.

Get something back. And so there's a thought out there that that's how this is going to go. So you hear that and you go, OK, that's pretty significant chatter that's going on right now.

Doesn't mean that it's necessarily going to happen. But this thing blew up. It's all over social media last night and it's going viral. And right away, there's commanders beat reporters that reach out actually to the new owner of the Washington commanders in Josh Harris or people close to Josh Harris. And Scott Abraham is one of them who covers the commanders for Seven News, D.C. And he said Bill Belichick to the commanders is picking up steam tonight on social media. I reached out to a source close to the Josh Harris group and I was told the theories are simply not true.

That's all. So maybe they're not true. But with that being said, and this is not me going directly after Scott, it's just responding to Scott's report. Scott, if they were true, and I'm not saying Florio is 100 percent right on this, but I don't think Mike Florio just does things all the time for clickbait. I think Mike Florio is well connected in the NFL. Mike Florio runs pro football talk. And there's a lot of people when you're in a position like Mike Florio is that likes to gossip and likes to tell Mike Florio certain theories and certain things. But in this case, if let's just say Florio is right, that someone said to him, hey, watch this, Harris kind of behind the scenes has expressed interest and maybe trading for Bill Belichick. When the season is currently going on and you currently employ Ron Rivera, like we're not talking about Daniel Snyder here. We're not talking about Mark Davis. We're not talking about incompetent owners.

We're talking about competent ownership group. Do you think they're going to say, yeah, what Mike Florio said is right. We're going to go pursue Bill Belichick because then you call Robert Kraft and Robert Kraft's going to want more than whatever he already wants because he has leverage. So just because people close to Josh Harris are denying it doesn't mean it won't happen.

Now, there's a different conversation to be had here. Should the commanders do this? If Belichick is going to take this patient approach and not go win now, I don't know if they should do this.

I would say they shouldn't do this because he's 71. I still think Bill Belichick is a heck of a coach. I know some of you dopes right now go, oh, he's doped him with Tom Brady. He sucks.

He's terrible. Brady made him. Yeah, Brady's more important than Belichick.

Players are more important than coaches. You need a quarterback to win consistently in this league. But it's not like Bill Belichick now all of a sudden is some bum.

Like, I know we're going back years and years and years. Bill Belichick, when he was the coach of the Browns, he did take them to the playoffs one time. He did defeat the Patriots in a playoff game up against Bill Parcells. You know, without Brady, he's made the playoffs one time. You know, he did have a team that was 11 and five as well without Brady when Brady got hurt.

But it's not crazy when you lose the greatest player of all time that your team starts to decline. So I still do believe that Bill Belichick has the ability to be a good coach. But at 71, if he wants to go about building and patience and he's not ready to go like win till 73, 74, how much longer does this guy actually want to coach? So I could question on that front from the commanders. But on the flip side, the question becomes, if let's operate in this world, if Josh Harris does pick up the phone, Robert Kraft, I want Bill Belichick.

What's the compensation? What do we got to do? Does Belichick want to go to the commanders? And also, does Robert Kraft want to trade his coach? And I think Robert Kraft would listen. And for Bill's sake, you've been there now as the head coach.

It's your 24th season like that doesn't happen. I do think Bill should do what Brady did and he should go elsewhere to try to win another ring. Now, Bill may say the commanders aren't the best spot to do so. The Chargers would be better. And I don't think the Bears are better. I don't think the Raiders are better.

But if the Chargers don't open up or he doesn't want to go to the Chargers, whatever the reasons are, and you feel like you want a new home. Yeah, I would then say, OK, the commanders could be a fine spot because the commanders have some talent right now. They need more talent, but they have some talent right now, even with trading Montez Sweat and Chase Young. Like, Terry McLaurin's a stud. Outside of Terry McLaurin, what talent do they have?

I like Jahan Dotson. He's a solid number two wide receiver. Jonathan Allen is a good pass rusher.

Daron Payne is a really good defensive player as well. I'm not telling you this is a great roster, but it's a better roster than what Bill has built in New England right now. So all I'm saying is I do think Kraft would listen. And ultimately, what it comes down to is Bill Belichick willing to give his blessing as well, because Josh Harris is not going to trade for Bill Belichick if it goes down that road. If Belichick is like, no, I don't want to go there.

I have no interest. Like, why would you trade for the coach if he doesn't want to go there? So that's the intriguing part of the conversation to me, not if does Josh Harris pick up the phone call? Will the Patriots with Robert Kraft say, yep, we're interested? And will Bill Belichick say he's interested as well?

8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. You could jump on in if you want to touch on that conversation. But Chris in Texas is listening to us right now. And I guess he's not happy with me saying Turkey is overrated. Let's go to Chris.

Chris, what's happening? Well, I'm glad the Rangers won last night, but your take on Turkey and Thanksgiving is all wrong. Why do you like Turkey? You tell me what makes Turkey so great. You describe me how your turkey is prepared there, Chris. Yeah, my mom has always, you know, just put it in the oven and roasted it, either her or my grandmother's. And I just always like to taste and smoke Turkey, not just regular Turkey. Well, let me ask you this, and I want to be disrespectful to your mom or your grandmother.

I would never do that. But isn't that Turkey a little dry? Nope. But you need to add all that other crap on it to make it good. Not well, a lot of it. We don't because we don't do the stuffing. Never have. So you just eat the dry Turkey pretty much. Yeah.

I don't know, Chris. It doesn't really stand out to me. I've never I've never had Turkey and said, wow, that's unbelievable.

That's amazing. Just never had it. I may not go wow, but I'm not much of a lasagna eater either.

So. Well, Chris, you have my family's lasagna. You'll you'll you'll be stuffed on the couch.

You don't know you won't know what to do with yourself if we're being honest. Yeah, I watched the Cowboys kick the kick whoever they play. But but. How many times that actually happened on Thanksgiving? Oh, more than a few times through the years. I remember I remember I'm having for Thanksgiving when I was a kid and it was 51 to seven. Yeah. But how many years ago are we talking about?

Unfortunately, I was probably about 11. See, like this is the thing, Chris, you know that you're going to get disappointed each and every year by your Dallas Cowboys. It feels like on Thanksgiving and you know, your Cowboys season is going to be disappointing.

So why stop with that disappointing kind of approach and you just continue it onto your meal and you try to talk up the meal actually being better to avoid. What is the disappointment on Thanksgiving of the drama Dallas Choking Cowboys? Let's go to Mike in California.

Mike, what's happening? Hey Zach, you know, usually I'm on your side on a lot of stuff, but you could not be more wrong about the turkey. Why? I throw my, I throw my turkey in the smoker in the morning first thing. Wait, now hold on, hold on. Didn't I just say if you're deep frying it, that's a little bit different? I don't deep fry, I smoke it. Oh, you smoke it. Okay.

Yeah. Tomato, tomato. Slow smoke in the Traeger all day, give with gravy, homemade mashed potatoes.

My mouth starts watering already. Good sausage stuffing to go with it. Ooh, sausage stuffing.

Now we're talking, Mike. But how many times a year do you actually do this process? Once I do the first one at Thanksgiving, I'll usually do about two more between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And then Christmas, I do the slow smoke prime rib.

Wait, wait, wait. No, just the turkey. Just the turkey. Smoke and prime rib, that's a different topic.

I'll never talk bad about that. But just the turkey, you go Thanksgiving and then once the next time you say Christmas? No, between Christmas and Thanksgiving, I'll usually do one or two more because I'll do soups out of it and stuff like that when it's in season.

Okay. Turkey into a lot of casseroles. Seems like you have a lot of leftovers, if you're asking me.

What's that? Seems like there's a lot of leftovers there too, right? No, when I do my first turkey for that day, then I'll buy like two more and cook them throughout the rest of the month. Okay. I don't know. I got to see it. Tweet me a picture, at Zach Gelb, and I'll have to take a look at your turkey.

But I don't know. It sounded like to me there, there's a lot of leftovers there and then you got to make it into soup because no one's actually eating your turkey to begin with. It's all right. I bring on the army here. If you want a war, we'll give you a war about this turkey.

I'm willing to listen. But there is no way that boring damn bird is being served to my loved ones. Because turkey just stinks.

It's pedestrian. And I think less of people. I really do. People that have turkey for Thanksgiving, I think less of you because I know your Thanksgiving is boring and you're looking for something a little extra juicy. You're looking for something a little extra moist, as people would say.

Right, Moist Mike? Is that turkey moist? If you want that type of turkey, get the dark meat, right? You don't have to have the white meat. You can have the dark meat. And that dark meat is very tender, very juicy, very that word.

And you can still enjoy it. Me, I'm a white meat kind of guy. You want to have the M?

Go with the... Oh, wait. Was that Michael in California, by the way, the chef? Yes. He knows what he's talking about. Well, no, he probably just knows how to cook anything. But Kevin O'Brien writes in this chat, Someone in your family's act doesn't know how to cook turkey. Done properly, it's moist and juicy.

Moist. Notice that, Santa. People can ruin lasagna just like your grams of mom obviously ruined your turkey. Kevin, my grandmother is 92 years old. She's a saint. She's Italian. She knows how to cook the turkey.

We just all agree that when you're stuffing your fat face, the turkey isn't needed and there's a lot of better alternatives. So that's where we are on that front. You don't go after Grandma Gelb.

She'll come right after you. Oh, wait. By the way, we got to take a break. We got Roman Harper coming up next.

We'll see where he lies on this whole turkey situation. Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. All right, we continue this Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio.

Forget Tim Tebow. Let's welcome in the real star of the SEC Network. That is the former safety for the New Orleans Saints and the Carolina Panthers.

Won a Super Bowl and played for Alabama, now doing a dominant job each and every Saturday and all throughout the week on the SEC Network. That is my pal in Roman Harper. Roman, what's happening? Zach, what's up, bro? Good talking to you, man.

I appreciate the shout out. I mean, not too often I'm compared to a star, but I'll take it, though, because I don't sweat a lot and I was always told you never see a star sweat. Well, I'm sweating a lot today.

The listeners in the YouTube chat, they're actually pointing out that I have pit stains in this sweatshirt that I'm wearing right now. So I thought I was a star, but that's a humbling moment for me right now. I realize that I'm very irrelevant because I'm sweating under the bright lights. It happens, dude. I'm trying to block out this one little light that's in my room because it's like really bothering me. OK, I'm ready. It's all good, bro.

I mean, sweat stains happen, just usually not for me. Yeah, well, that's because you're an actual star. Roman Harper is here with us. Before we talk some football, I don't know how much you caught in this conversation.

I was going on my yearly rant and then I got to you late. I'm not a big fan of turkey. I think turkey is overrated. My family no longer does turkey on Thanksgiving. Your thoughts on turkey? So I you've got to have turkey because it's like traditional, but like turkey is too easy to mess up for me. It's like if it's not cooked just right, like it's not juicy enough, gets dry, more complaints. I actually prefer ham. I eat way more ham than I do turkey.

That's really it. I don't hate on it. I like it, you know, sometimes deep fried. I kind of like the fried turkey. That kind of is kind of good, too.

But I don't think my my wife doesn't do that too often. So I mean, when I get it, I enjoy it. Maybe I like it because I don't get it that often.

Maybe that's what it is, too. But turkey is traditional. I prefer ham.

It seems like what you're saying is you have it just to have it. You pick at it a little bit and then you go, oh, this is kind of a dry bird. I'll push it to the side. Load me up on that ham.

That's what Roman Harper said. Yeah, I'll take the ham and I'll take some chicken. You know what I'm saying? Like Turkey's like, I take the other two, though.

Yeah. It's not in like my top five power rankings of food that I would ever want. Like if you go through the college football rankings and you kind of did that with food, it'd be like twenty four, twenty five, maybe even outside of the top twenty five. It's probably outside the top twenty five. If I go all food and not just Thanksgiving, I mean, Thanksgiving is going to crack my probably top twelve.

But it's not it's not going to make or break me either way. So it would make the expanded version of the playoffs is what you're saying when you go to twelve teams. Talking about the twenty four version. They'll finally get in the Turkey's kind of like Notre Dame. That's what it is.

They always look like the part. But then when they actually play a big game, they just don't show up already. Let me get to Alabama. So I thought Alabama season was on life support. I was ready to pull the plug when they were at halftime up against Tennessee. And then they come out firing in that third quarter. I know you are an Alabama alum, but you do work for the SEC network.

Where is the confidence? Big one this weekend for Alabama hosting LSU with what you saw last week. It's as an Alabama alum. Actually, the confidence is pretty high just because Alabama is. But it's this is such a tough game to really talk about and maybe try and decide because LSU wants to turn this into a track meet. That is their way to win this game. This game's got to be high scoring. They wanted up tempo, up pace.

They need to start fast. They need this game in their high 30s, 40s. That's a formula for LSU to win this game. They don't mind giving up points because the moment they score, their offense gets right back on the field. So I know they mind, but it's not there and it doesn't kill them because their offense is what runs the whole ship anyway. Their defense is just just a way to slow down their offense. Obviously, honestly, it's been kind of atrocious, honestly, as far as LSU's defense is concerned. But Alabama itself is my confidence has grown in this team because I didn't know what to expect earlier in the year. I thought they were going to be this one team that like ran the football and play action passed off that. And they're not like that at all. So that got this team has kind of grown and matured and found their own identity throughout this season.

I think it's a team that was told that they were going to be great all year long or that they were going to be so good. And they believed it. But you still got to go out there and prove it to yourself.

And so and then you finally start to understand who you are. And it's been kind of interesting to see, you know, if I would have thought that they were going to beat Texas A&M, I never thought it was going to be able to say like they can't run the ball at all. And Jalen Milrose is going to be able to throw him, throw him a game and win it for him that way.

He did that. I never thought that they would be down 20 to seven versus Tennessee and have a way to come back. But they did that as well. And all of a sudden they stiffened up on defense. They found a way to be a continue to be explosive on offense. And they came to have. So they're winning games that we don't see them winning or like we don't anticipate the way that is going to go.

And they say the best versions of the best teams always find ways to win. And that's who this Alabama team is starting to become. I don't know why, but the defense is playing extremely well, especially the secondary. And now the defensive line is really playing stout and really great against the run. They're getting after the passer, which I think this week is going to be highly dangerous. You've got to keep Jalen, Jayden Daniels in the pocket.

You can't let him escape. So for me, it's going to come down to game plan and execution. How does Alabama's defense, how do they execute the game plan? And for LSU, how do they turn this into a track meet for LSU or Alabama? You know, whoever goes to the SEC title game. Do you view either of those teams having enough this year to take down Georgia in the SEC championship game in a few weeks? With all due respect, I think Alabama is a better matchup because Alabama can at least get some stops on defense. I don't think LSU can score enough versus Georgia. Georgia is too good defense, but you're not going to score every possession on them. They're too sound.

They're too they're way too big up front. They're way too fast on defense. So I think Georgia would be a little bit too much for LSU.

As far as matchups are concerned, I would like the matchup of Alabama, not trying to be a homer, but I feel like they have the right balance of really good defense, explosive enough offensively and to be able to stay within the game. But Georgia right now is on a different level than everybody else. They play games that are close, but it's almost like they're just playing with their food. And then whenever they get challenged enough, they rise up and they just beat you back down. And it doesn't matter. And so every time we think they're going to be challenged, they're never challenged. And so it's going to be really interesting because they got a really big matchup this weekend versus Missouri at Athens, where if we would have said any team was going to play close to Georgia last year, nobody would have guessed Missouri.

And it was. And this year's version of Missouri is way better than it was of last year's version. I think the matchup to look at that, as I talk to more of the experts that watch it and really pay attention to it, even more than me, which I think I'm pretty good, is going to be the D-line of Georgia versus the offensive line of Missouri. Missouri's O-line, they play decent, but I don't know if they're big enough and physical enough to go up against this Georgia defense. That's where this game is going to be won or lost.

All right, Roman Harper here with us. When you look at the first college football playoff rankings, Ohio State was one. I don't think Ohio State's the best team in the country, but I understand why they were ranked one. But then I go through the rest of the rankings like, all right, Washington has a win up against Oregon, who's six, but Washington wouldn't be in the top four.

And then Florida State, I know their wins haven't aged well, necessarily. But Florida State, the committee basically told them, you've got to go undefeated or you don't get in. Your biggest takeaway from the playoff committee, when it's always confusing, was what?

That week one means absolutely nothing, that it usually works itself out at the end of the day. Now, let's talk about the actual rankings. Penn State and Notre Dame are the two teams that are propping all the decision-making up. So you always got to find that one outlier that's really helping to build the basis of where the committee is at.

You've got to look deeper than just the numbers. They say that Penn State's a really good team. They haven't played anybody.

They haven't beaten anybody that's really that good. But they're ranked at, what, 11. And then Notre Dame's at 12 or 13. So Ohio State's number one because they beat Penn State and Notre Dame. Two top-15 teams.

Yeah, so right there. But when you watch those games, like, I thought Notre Dame should have defeated Ohio State. They dropped an interception. And I'll give them credit for the victory up against Penn State, but James Franklin has turned Penn State into participation state university. Where after the game, he's like, oh, we had a good effort.

Good job. Like, give me a break. This is what I'm talking about. This is the debate that I have with my friends every week. It's like, you can look at the rankings and get mad, but you should really look at the outliers that are basing or propping these other teams up. So that is why Ohio State's number one. I don't know why Georgia's number two. Georgia has only won for two straight years and just completely dominated the college football scene.

But whatever. And also, the target moves. It's that, okay, well, this year it's strength of schedule. Well, this year it's lack of strength of schedule. It's also quality wins or quality loss.

So all the targets always moving in this CFP talking. Number three is Michigan, which I think this is my biggest tip right now. This whole Michigan scandal is way bigger. And we're going to talk about that.

I'll finish my comment. And I think Florida State should be much higher. I really appreciate the way Florida State's played. They're kind of rolling through the ACC and they had some great quality wins. I think that's a better team than what they're given credit for.

Washington at five. I like them as a Pac-12, but the Pac-12 continues to eat amongst themselves. And we'll see how they do as they continue to get through the season. Oregon, I mean, I watched them. I don't think they're better than Texas or Alabama in a one-on-one matchup.

But that's my opinion. And Texas should also be moved down a slot because they told us that injuries matter. So is Texas the seventh best team with Quinn Ewers not playing quarterback?

I don't believe so. But that's what they're telling us. And they're also in front of an Oklahoma team that they lost to. So that's another thing. It's just all weird.

I don't understand it. Ole Miss is another team that could really benefit from a 12-team playoffs because they're a team that could really go in there and wreck a lot of havoc versus non-SEC opponents named Alabama. All right. Let's get to Michigan real quickly. Wrap it up with Roman Harper.

This will be the last thing I ask you. I don't think the Big Ten should step in and do anything before the end of the season. Where are you at with this one? I agree with your statement. This should not be a conference stepping in because they want to get the money at the end of the day. They're trying to get in the playoffs. And if they can get two in, that's what they're going to do.

So they will protect themselves. I totally understand that. I respect that. But the NCAA must step in and do something.

Accountability must be held somewhere, Zach. That's my only problem. Look, I come from the school of if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. So I get it. I get it.

I'm trying to get an edge all the time. Right? But it's something to be said to go be sneaking and stealing signs like baseball back in whatever day. And look, you still got to stop the play. But you're Michigan.

You should just be able to line up and beat these teams. You don't need to go out there and cheat to do it. And I don't like the accountability piece about it because nobody's being held accountable. You're telling me this little G.A.

guy that probably makes $30,000 or $40,000 a year is buying plane tickets and putting buying the best seats in the house to be able to sit up there and steal signs. And then when we ask people above them, they're like, they have no answer. I don't even know. I don't know what you're talking about.

I don't know how he got there. It's just for me, the accountability piece is missing. And that is the disrespect that I really feel for everybody that's involved. Because if you're telling me it doesn't give you edge, you're lying. And if you're saying that, oh, Michigan still wins these games, maybe so.

But by how much? And so when they're blowing everybody else out and they're stealing and cheating and doing it the wrong way, because if everybody could do it, then there's no complaint. But it's clearly said that the coaches make all these rules, Zach, and they know they can't do it. And so it just to me, it's so low blow. It's egregious, honestly, egregious. That's the term I use for it. And I want somebody to be held accountable for it and not just some G.A. that's getting thrown out.

And now it's getting more attention than he's ever had in his life. Yeah. And I've always said this, that there needs to be a punishment and they did something wrong.

But like people that think you need to basically like put an end to the Michigan program over this. That's just no, that's not to me. No, I'm not saying you're saying that. I'm talking about other people's reaction. I know that you're not saying that.

No, not at all, man. Look. So look, I played Alabama. We got put on both suspension. So I get the whole suspense, like you lose scholarships and all that stuff. But I told you I would feel better if just somebody stood up and said, you know, it was on me.

All right. Have some kind of accountability. And so when I'm watching week after week, more of this stuff is coming out and more is coming out. And there's still no accountability piece. That's when I think the NCAA needs to step in and say, you know what? If you're not going to step up and do something yourself and say it's your fault, apologize and like cut it out.

Then you've got to step in. And I'm not saying they don't get to get in the playoffs. But something needs to be done because it's just such an unfair advantage when nobody else can do it in NFL. Everybody can do it. So nobody cares. Right. Yeah. But in college, it's a known fact you can't do it and you shouldn't have to do it.

You're Michigan. That's my other part about it. I just think it's a huge accountability piece that's missing. And if they don't do it, the NCAA needs to step in and smack them down to make sure that they know not to do it again.

And that the accountability piece is held for somebody. But we know the NCAA is going to wait and wait and wait because they're like by mile time. They move very, very, very, very slowly. It's going to be unfortunate because the season is going to go by. Michigan may get in. They may not. Whatever. I don't even care what happens. And then you're going to look up and they're going to try and vacate wins. And I'm like, dude, it already happened.

We know what happened. Yeah, it's a stupid part that the NCAA does. It's a stupid part. They should either not allow them right now. Just come in, step in, say you're done.

All right. Nobody would like it. But nobody liked that Jim Harbaugh and his crew went out there and did what they did either. So they kind of earned this one. It's not like, you know, we're not coming out of just anywhere just trying to pick on Michigan. Michigan kind of earned this one. I'm not thinking it's a huge deal because on the field, but in college, like you're just Michigan. And so why are you already going and doing those things like Michigan State?

Like, like you're already better than them. Like, it doesn't make sense. Like Ohio State, I get it. You know what I mean?

But like, you're stealing signs from Michigan State, bro. Like, why? Like, you don't need to do that. It's just it just really, really bothers me, Zach. I'm sorry.

I'm taking you long on my rant. But this is like something that I feel is such a competitive advantage at this level. You know, at this level, it's such a competitive advantage and it should be it should not be allowed. It's not allowed. And I am missing the accountability piece.

I think that's the most disappointing part. He is Roman Harper. Always love when we get to chat with him.

The star of the SEC Network, Tim Tebow, who? Roman, thanks so much, my friend. Zach, thank you, man. Keep telling that. Maybe the word is spread. Thank you, brother. You got it.

I don't know. I can't fight those Tebow maniacs. I won't win there. Let's get the latest CBS Sports Radio update in with the Ackman, Rich Ackerman. This portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley Financial, stuck at a timeshare.

And now contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at Wesley Financial Group. Dot com. So Mike in California called us earlier and he is a chef and he sent me a picture of his bird. His bird does look moist when it comes to Turkey, but I still just don't think Turkey looks good. Like I don't believe when you post Turkey on the Internet, you go, wow, that's something that I need to have.

But I do appreciate others that are coming to my defense when I'm a voice for the voiceless. And I'm just trying to tell you that Turkey is not that good and it's overrated. And Zach in Wisconsin, who is a five time grilled cheese champion, and actually created the Zach Gelb show grilled cheese back in the day on the weekend overnights, which was crackled black pepper, white cheddar cheese with crumbled bacon on sourdough. Mm hmm.

He actually chimed in. He said, don't like Turkey. We do duck and ham bourbon maple glaze on both this year. That sounds absolutely delicious.

Bourbon maple glaze. That sounds good, right? Oh, yeah. OK. You said yes, please. Right. I said yes, please. Oh, gotcha.

Sorry. You're my kind of cut out there for a second. And I go, I don't I don't know what the heck you were actually saying. Tom Hannah fan, who does a great podcast.

And he's one of the few people that Penn State has produced that I actually like. He said when I tweeted Turkey sucks, I knew I liked you. So there are some people out there that they see me do this whole conversation and try to speak up for you that go, Turkey's overrated.

You got to go with lasagna or something else. And they end up saying, you know what, Zach? I really do appreciate your charity act during this Thanksgiving time of the year. Let me go to Adrian and Marilyn next up on the Zach Gelb show. Adrian, what's happening?

Hey, Zach, how you doing? I guess I must say maybe you just didn't have a good Turkey. That's probably the reason. No, we had good Turkey. It was just there was other things that were better. Like we got rid of it. I had in my entire life and we got rid of it like seven, eight years ago just because it wasn't that good. OK, so so we go with the Turkey on Thanksgiving just because it's traditional. Then we actually go we go with the lasagna on Christmas. My man. And then then let me let me give you another story.

I lived in California. Wait, but let me ask you this real quick. I'll let you tell your story. If you could only have one turkey or lasagna, what do you go for? That's a hard choice. Well, you know what the answer is. You only have turkey once a year. OK, but I'm asking you, you could only have it once. Last meal and I go to your house and I say, this is it for you. You either get turkey or lasagna. What do you pick?

I guess I'm going with lasagna. My man, you could continue your story. Go ahead. All right.

So I lived in California and one of my buddies, his parents are Creole from from New Orleans, Louisiana. Oh, sure. So on Christmas, they have they have gumbo. Oh, I love gumbo. I love gumbo.

Yeah. I went over there one time and I'm like, where's the turkey? They were like, no, we're Creole from Louisiana.

This is what we have. We have the gumbo over rice with bread and things like that. So I was like, wow, that's different. So I guess your lasagna is different. But you did it because I guess you got sick of turkey. Yeah, no, the turkey is just boring. And I think there's better alternatives out there. And thanks for the phone call, Adrian.

Really good one from Maryland. And that's what I'm saying. Like you could join our anti-turkey push for Thanksgiving and just acknowledge turkey is over it and go, oh, I don't do lasagna, but I do ham or I do gumbo or, you know, I do smoked ribs or whatever.

There's just better alternatives. And that's what my stance has been throughout the years. Real quickly, the Falcons are going to tailor Ham Heinecke right on cue this week and they're benching Desmond Ritter. So that's the right decision. But the Falcons made a mistake in selecting Desmond Ritter to be their quarterback this year.

And then the approach of how they're going to use Desmond Ritter and trying to make him more than what he actually is. And I go back to a few years ago, they were all in on the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes. They didn't get him. And then this year, because you had the non-exclusive franchise tagged issued to Lamar Jackson, you could have agreed to a deal with Lamar Jackson and that the Ravens didn't want to match that deal and didn't have to be a fully guaranteed deal. You would have had to give them two first round picks. But one thing I don't get looking back at it, and Arthur Blank did comment on this publicly, when he was concerned about the injury of Lamar Jackson, it doesn't make sense to me why you'd be all in on Deshaun Watson, but you wouldn't explore or you wouldn't go through and at least make an offer to Lamar Jackson. That's my big problem with the Falcons, because imagine if they had Lamar Jackson right now, who's in Baltimore kicking ass and he needs more weapons in Baltimore. If you gave him Bijan Robinson, Tyler Algier, Drake London and Kyle Pitts, that would be a heck of a team, not only inside the NFC South, but inside the NFC. Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio. We'll come on back. Does Deion Sanders need to make a bowl game for this year to be a success? And also Dusty Mabel join us 25 minutes from now to remember Coach Bobby Knight.