Kirk Cousins To The Packers Isn’t Crazy (Hour 3)

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Pre-existing conditions are not covered. For all terms and limitations, visit felikscatinsurance.com slash terms. I'm Tony Kornheiser, and this is my show. My friends, come on and you know them. We talk about the sports you care about. Football, and now basketball too, though we don't really pay attention until later in the year, and the absurdity that is our lives.

Line etiquette at your local pharmacy, the current phase of the moon, the importance of talking to a human being on the phone, and most importantly, the power of a box of that. Listen on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Alrighty, our number three of our radio program, it is the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll tell you about one prominent NFL insider who already has a sleeper team where Kirk Cousins could wind up for next season in the NFL. Barrett Salih is going to stop by 20 minutes from now, but first let's hit the phones.

855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. Let's go to Mike in Atlanta next up on the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. Mike, what's happening?

Hey Zach, good afternoon. I got a sports PSA for everybody. This is stuck in the past guy, the guy that always talks about how many titles his team has 20, 30 years ago, and I'm talking to you in the NFL, Dallas Cowboys, and I'm talking to you in the NCAA, Miami Hurricanes. And also, real quick, I have a movie that you'll cry to, and I promise you 100% of men, if you don't, you say you didn't cry in it, you're lying, and it's a sports movie, The Champ with Jon Voight and Ricky Schroeder.

Appreciate the phone call, Mike. I've actually never seen The Champ. Have you guys ever seen The Champ?

Stu, for some reason, I remember just working here the last few years. Are you the one that has just never seen a lot of these big time movies? That is me.

Okay. I always thought it was either Hickey or... I think Hickey's in the ballpark, not as bad as me, but he also is. There's a lot that he has not seen. Were you the one who did not see one of my favorite movies ever, Remember the Titans? That is correct.

Hickey as well. Did you not go to school as a kid? I didn't watch movies. That and... What's the movie? We are the Jamaican bobsled team. Cool Runnings. Cool Runnings. Thank you.

Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up. It's bobsled time. Cool Runnings. Whenever we couldn't have recess in school, and they would bring in that archaic TV into the room, it was Cool Runnings, and it was also Remember the Titans. That's the two movies. I've seen Remember the Titans.

I've never seen Remember the Titans. You know what? Everyone gives me crap for how I say it.

I try to enunciate the T, then people don't like it, so I'll just go back to Titans. All right? Is that fine? Yes.

Okay, good. Titans. Titans.

That's how I just said it. What's wrong with it? Titans. Titans.

Titans. Okay. You know what? Spike says he doesn't care. Spike's the boss here, so bleep you, and bleep you, bleep DA, bleep Mraz, bleep all of you. I know next week's PSA.

The boss said he is fine with it, so you want to go against the boss, go against the boss. Maybe we'll be looking for a new executive producer next week. Won't be the first time here at CBS Sports right now.

Well, I am a Titan of the industry. All right, let's go to Brantley and Eugene, Oregon, next up on the Zach Gelb show. Brantley, what's happening? Hey, Zach.

How you doing? Appreciate the show and the energy you bring. I just wanted to touch on the college football game day choice for James Madison-Appalachian State. I totally thought it should have been Washington-Oregon State, especially with the implications that this game has. If Oregon State upsets Washington, they're right in it to go to the Pac-12 championship if they could, you know, upset Oregon.

I don't think it's likely, but it's possible. Oregon State's got a good program this year. I'm definitely a Ducks fan, but I don't think it's likely. I don't think it's a Ducks fan, but you know, I would expect it to be a very good game in Corvallis this weekend, and I would not be surprised to see the Beavers upset Washington. Yeah, I actually saw they were a two and a half point favorite Oregon State.

I understand what you're saying. I like Coach Smith. He is phenomenal. D.J.

Uyengalole is a really good story. Maybe I'm just going to be a dumb gambler here, and it won't be the first time, and it won't be the last time, but I will take Kalen DeBoer's squad plus the two and a half. The game day decision, I think it's two things. Now, they obviously embraced Colorado before the start of the season, but it's so awkward with the Pac-12 ending and all these schools leaving the Pac-12. I do wonder if that factors into the decision, and the other part is, you know, I do have a soft spot when the smaller school is having this great season, because when I was at Temple, Temple beat Penn State for the first time in 74 years, and then they had Notre Dame, and Temple was undefeated, and they got game day. Temple would never have game day, and I know James Madison has had a lot of success, and now, you know, being in Division 1, and it's ridiculous with the rule, and they're not going to win, how they're not going to be eligible for postseason play, and all that nonsense. It's like the NCAA has a bunch of stupid rules, but that's one of the dumbest outside of vacating wins, and that practice that the NCAA does, but I can't crush game day going to James Madison, because, you know, Washington, I don't know about Oregon State just because they don't really have a conference moving forward. You know, those schools you would think will be in the running for future years for game day. I don't know how sustainable this is going to be at James Madison, but I can understand the gripe. It's just not something that I'm irate about.

I will tell you this, though. I love game day. I'm always a sucker for game day. I think McAfee has been a really good addition to the show. I always, my favorite part actually is the social media before when Kirk Kirkstreet goes up to Lee Corso, and just the relationship that they have, and the videos that they post talking right before the game.

I absolutely love that. I've been watching though a lot more, though, of the Fox show. Now, I'm not a big fan of Urban Liar, but the other guys on the show, I think Mark Ingram has been a phenomenal addition. I like Brady Quinn. I like Matt Leinart a lot, too. That show, when it got launched, obviously you're going to try to get into the sandbox there and get into the real estate that is college football, but I never thought it would drag my interest as much as it has, where I have been flipping back and forth between both shows a lot the last few years. And I will say, listen, Urban Meyer is certainly not the greatest human being on the planet, and certainly not the most, you know.

I said the Urban Liar thing kind of like ingested. Yeah, but like, listen, he certainly comes off as not being a likable guy, whether it's, you know, what got him fired in Jacksonville, you know, that video, or just all the different scandals that have followed him around from school to school to school, but he is an awesome analyst. Yeah, he's not afraid to give his opinion. He gives great opinions. He does a podcast now where every single week, it's like every week, Jerry Jones on 105 through the fan must listen to radio.

Every week, this Urban Meyer podcast is must listen to podcasting and must listen to audio because he says something interesting every single week. I don't like him as a person. I don't like him as a coach.

I think he's great on the air. He's a phenomenal football coach. There's obviously a lot of baggage and a lot of things that I don't support that Urban Meyer does. But there is no debating that if you bring an Urban Meyer into a college setting, he wins. And when you have won as much as he did with the two national championships at Florida, and then the national championship at Ohio State, there is just a certain clout that that brings. Now, a lot of guys have that clout in different levels. And when they get in front of the camera, they get in front of the microphone, they're still worried about their relationships.

They're worried about being honest, or they're worried about their next job. I do believe Urban Meyer recently, ever since the Jacksonville situation, now when he's on Fox, and when he does that podcast too, he gives you a lot of good takes. Like you may not agree with them, but he's not afraid to speak his mind.

And that fits his coaching personality when he did things his way as well. Alrighty, let's get to the prominent NFL insider that is already speculating on a sleeper team for Kirk Cousins this offseason. You like that?

You like that? Dan Graziano from ESPN. My sleeper is Green Bay. Jordan Love doesn't look like the answer. And while the Packers are as patient as any team in the league, they're also used to winning. Cousins knows the Packers offense because it's of Kyle Shanahan's scheme from their time together in Washington, and Cousins and Green Bay coach Matt Leflore could work well together.

I don't think it's that crazy. Now, he's a free agent. It's not great going from Minnesota to Green Bay, but we've seen right before Brett Favre go from Green Bay to New York to Minnesota.

Here is my question, though. I could see why the Packers may find it attractive. Will Kirk Cousins find the Packers attractive? You got Romeo Dobbs. You got Christian Watson.

You got Aaron Jones. You got a defense that has some players, but they're inconsistent. You then leave the Vikings. The Vikings become a major question mark.

The Lions are humming. The Bears are very far, you know, very far move. The Bears have done nothing since what? Get into that Super Bowl up against Tony Dungy and the Colts when they had Rex Grossman as their quarterback. So you could go to Green Bay and you could win some games. Looking at the options for Kirk Cousins, you got to monitor San Francisco.

Now, Brock Purdy's back in the good graces with the performance that he had last weekend. But if that goes the wrong way, you know the affinity that Kyle Shanahan has for for Kirk Cousins. Atlanta is an intriguing destination as well, because you look at the NFC South, that division stinks.

The Bucks are no good. The Panthers stink. So you go around that division, the Saints, they're they're holding on and the train still driving and their cars still driving.

But you feel you feel the tires get a little wobbly and they're about to pop off. You go to Atlanta with Arthur Smith, who I just don't get what he's doing recently, especially with the way he's handling Bijan Robinson, it's the wrong way. But you have the weapons there of Bijan Algier, Drake London, a defense that's improved under the new defense coordinator Nielsen. I think the Falcons are a good destination. So I hear Green Bay and I don't think the question is would the Packers do it is would Kirk Cousins want to go there? And right now I would say no, even with the legendary franchise and, you know, Kirk is a kind of a quirky dude. So you kind of fit into Green Bay where it's all football, football, football, football and cheese curds and beer and spotted cow. But I like the smell test on that.

It doesn't pass it. Now, I will circle back to a conversation that we had just last week with the legendary Kevin Harlan, who we all know his connections to the Packers organization with his father. It was Harlan last week who said on this show he believes in Matt Lafleur, which I question and I would argue.

But this is Kevin Harlan speaking. He believes in Matt Lafleur, but he doesn't think they're just going to give Jordan Love another year just to give him another year. And so far, outside of that comeback at the home opener, Love hasn't really been hasn't really given you enough moments that indicate he's a franchise guy. But if you get rid of Love after this year and I know it's not a traditional ownership structure in Green Bay, I would say that puts so much pressure on Lafleur and Gudekunz because they Gudekunz drove Rogers out of town and Love was his guy.

He fell in love with Jordan Love. You give up on Love this quickly, you better go get a guy like Kirk Cousins that brings you back to respectability because if you don't, then your ass is going to get sent packing and deservedly so. Now I could look at the Shanahan situation with Lynch where Shanahan and Lynch were never in danger of losing their job and they've built a great roster. The Packers don't have the roster like the 49ers, but they went all in and then some to go get Trey Lance and they quickly realized Trey wasn't their guy.

And look how quickly they pivoted and they found a way to still make it work. They haven't won a Super Bowl, but they still found a way to make it work. So in one breath, you say, man, that's given up on Love very early and it puts a lot of pressure on Gudekunz, but if your replacement is Kirk Cousins, even coming off an Achilles injury, I would expect that team to at least be respectable. Like that should be a team that should make the playoffs next year. But when you evaluate it from Kirk's side, are there better options? And I think staying in Minnesota would be a better option.

I think going to Atlanta would be a better option. The preeminent option would be going to the 49ers, but you would need the 49ers to have a need to go to a new quarterback. Outside of that, there's no one in the AFC East.

No, Patriots are going to draft a quarterback. The Jets have Rogers. The Bills have Josh Allen.

The Dolphins have Tuatunga, Vailoa. AFC West, the Chiefs have Mahomes. Raiders? Can you get rid of Jimmy G and bring in Kirk Cousins?

Well, that'd actually not be bad. If you bring back Josh Jacobs and you have Devante Adams, that could be fun. Stu, would you want Kirk Cousins for two, three years?

You want to go down that well? I'd probably rather go down the rookie young quarterback road, but... But you're probably not going to get that this year. You guys already have five wins.

Maybe not, but they might be one that falls to like the middle of the first round. I'd probably be more willing to do that than Kirk, but I think they could do a whole lot worse than Kirk. I'd rather have Kirk than Garoppolo, obviously. Browns, they're going to have to roll with Watson next year, even coming off the injury because of the contract. Bengals have Burrow. Ravens have Lamar. Could the Steelers be in play?

Could that be a sleeper? Kenny Pickett only has six touchdowns. I know he's only two years in. You get rid of him and you bring in Kirk Cousins with that defense.

George Pickens, Deontay Johnson, the two running backs, Warren and also Najee Harris. I know teams are getting rid of quarterbacks sooner and sooner, but two years for Pickett for a first round quarterback feels really, really quick trigger. We, it does, but we've seen teams pull the trigger earlier than that before. AFC South, Jaguars know, Texans know, Colts know. If you want to go to Tennessee, like, okay, I don't think that team's headed in the right direction. And then inside the NFC, now he's a free agent, so it doesn't have to be via trade.

That's, that's a good thing. Like, like normally when we talked about Kyle Murray would be, oh, you can't, you're not going to trade him in division. If you want to throw the Packers out there, sure. Inside the NFC West, I think Stafford comes back next year.

See, you know what? Seattle would be a great one. Imagine Kirk Cousins with the Seattle Seahawks.

You have the two running backs. You then have JSN, DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and an excellent young secondary. The Seahawks could be a really good destination. Giants need a quarterback, but it's not going to be Kirk Cousins.

I wouldn't consider that. Kirk coming home to the commanders next year. No, Sam Howell is actually playing some really damn good football.

So I, I say that in jest. And inside the NFC South, we already went to the options. I think the Falcons would be really good. If I'm him, I would consider returning to Minnesota. I would consider the Atlanta Falcons, the Seattle Seahawks, and then just going with one team in the AFC.

I would say the Steelers. Those would be my four top destinations for Kirk Cousins right now, if I was in the shoes of Kirk Cousins. Looks like everything's going to be put on hold with Michigan and Jim Harbaugh. Jim Harbaugh is going to accept this three game suspension.

Already served one. We'll see what the NCAA will do down the road as they kick this can down the road. Also go around the rest of the college football slate and some job openings around the college football world with Barrett Salih who does a great job CBS Sports.

Analysts covering college football will be returned in five minutes. 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.

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The free AutoZone fix finder service can help you find a fix for free. Get in the Zone AutoZone. Restrictions apply. I really do like Barrett Salih but during the baseball season since he's a Braves fan I can't stand his guts because as a Mets fan I have nothing to say. So since it's November we're in the clear and I go back to liking Barrett Salih who is a tremendous college football insider analyst for CBS that he joins us right now. Barrett, how are you?

I'm good. Hey, this is the best time of the year for the Mets, right? Because you're not playing baseball. They're not breaking your heart. That false sense of hope is creeping back in.

You might get Sho Aotani and I'm sure that'll tank if you do get them because you'll go on. You'll have a disappointing season like always. But this is the time for hope for Mets fans because when April rolls around that hope will disappear. Yeah, I forgot to send you my condolence card for your great regular season. Then your failure in the postseason this year. Maybe I got lost in the mail. I didn't watch the Mets this postseason.

How'd they do? Is that what you're doing now? You're taking a participation trophy that you're not the Mets? That's embarrassing. You're better than that Barrett Salih. I expect higher standards from you.

I'm really not better than that. All right, let me start you off with Michigan. So Harbaugh accepts the suspension today. They weren't going to get the injunction in courts is my understanding. So you take the two-game suspension and this gets the can kicked down the road until whatever the NCAA wants to decide.

What was your reaction to it? Yeah, not surprised. You know, billable hours are always undefeated and there were billable hours all week, right for the lawyers. They got paid. Jim Harbaugh has finality and and chicken knows what's going on. But this was this was always going to be the case. There was no there's no precedent for any of this. I mean, basically the Big Ten took what was an investigation that was not complete and decided to to punish based on that. The NCAA still can do whatever it wants to do. So it was all public pressure. The Big Ten had to do something. Michigan couldn't fight this because it the PR, the look would be awful.

So I'm not surprised at all that this is how how it ended up. And and now, you know, we have Sharon Moore. One more tune up before he plays Ohio coaches against Ohio State.

And, you know, again, I go back to all of this. If you gave a coach a preference, do you want to miss a game or do you want to miss the six other days? The coach is OK missing the game now.

The six other days are what's more important. You know, I'm just wondering, because people forget about what happened before the start of the season and we know the NCAA loves to be petty. Do you think what happened before the start of the season where Michigan and Jim Harbaugh did they didn't bow down and they did the self-imposed three game suspension? Will that factor in to this maybe future suspension from the NCAA with the sign stealing scandal? Are they separate? I think they're separate. I think that, you know, it's just a it's sort of a book into what was a very bizarre season for Jim Harbaugh.

And yeah, I don't think they're related at all. I don't think the NCAA is going to going to have, you know, anything to do with that. I mean, look at there are some steps and rules within the the NCAA rulebook where, you know, if you're under investigation, you can compound things and have further, you know, you can for sure if you're already under investigation and whatever that's I don't think that'll be taken into account because honestly, I don't think Jim Harbaugh is going to be there anyway. And the NCAA is more on this mission to punish the coach, not the program. And, you know, if the coach isn't there, if there is a problem and you do have to punish somebody for the sign-stealing investigation, once the NCAA's investigation is wrapped up, you're still going to probably punish the coach and not the program. And I don't think the coach is going to be there. So today's news doesn't change anything because for you in terms of Harbaugh, you know, coming back and signing that long-term extension is what you're saying. I don't think that's going to happen. And look, I think he's going to go through a process this year.

And I think he did it last year as well, last off season where coaches look in the mirror and have to decide, Hey, is this for me? Because there are so many other things that you have to do now. I mean, even as compared to five years ago, I mean, you have to recruit your own roster all day, every day, 365 days a year. That's exhausting.

In addition to high school recruiting, transfer portal, recruiting, hiring assistance, NIL deals, all of that stuff. It's exhausting. And so for Jim Harbaugh, I kind of felt like he was kind of going down that road a little bit where it's like, I don't want to do this. That's why he flirted with the NFL the last couple of years and it's only getting worse.

So, yeah, I think that it's not only him. I think a lot of coaches are going to look in the mirror this off season and probably already have looked in the mirror and say, you know, is, is this for me? Or can I go to the NFL and just coach ball all day long? That's why I laugh when A&M, their, their dream candidate was Dan Campbell. It's nice to have dreams and dream big, but when you have something rolling in the NFL, like Dan Campbell has with the Lions, I don't care that he attended A&M.

He's not leaving the NFL where it's easier to go to A&M, which is not, which is a good job, but it's not an easy job. Well, Zach, I dreamed that my hairline's going to stop proceeding. Yeah. I also dreamed when I was a kid that I was going to date Beyonce. It never happened. Let me ask you about Paul.

Well, trust me, I'm not in the same league as a Jay-Z. Let me ask you about our favorite college football insider, Paul Finebaum these days, where he goes from defending Michigan to trashing Michigan. I saw he was on Dan Patrick today and he said he'll refuse to recognize Michigan as the national champion if they win it all this year. I think that's ridiculous, but do you think a lot of people share that sentiment that they'll look at this sideways if Michigan goes on to win it all?

I don't think people will look at it to that extreme. If Michigan does, and it's funny that, that I'm going to make the comparison two completely different scenarios, but the timeline and the reaction are the same. The Auburn Cam Newton, 2010 season, the whole month of November, it was kind of simmering. It was there. It was the talk of not just people in my world, college football, diehards, but also national sports radio, source TV stations and radio and all that other stuff. That's where this Michigan thing is. When Auburn won that national championship with Cam, there were people that said, I'm never going to recognize it. Now they do. I think in this case, if you're saying you're not going to recognize Michigan as national champions if they win, you're having a hot take for the sake of having a hot take. There are a lot of those out there, not just on this subject, but a lot of other subjects.

They draw eyeballs, they draw clicks, whatever. But I think if Michigan goes on to win this, yeah, it's part of the story. I mean, there's no doubt it's part of the story, but am I going to recognize? Of course, I'm going to recognize.

I think everybody will. So you're in charge of, let's say, the college football playoff committee. Barrett Salih is here with us.

I give you that power. At the end of the year, Alabama is a one loss SEC champion. Texas is a one loss Big 12 champ. But as you know, back in week two of the college football season, Texas goes into Tuscaloosa. They win the game by two points.

Who would you put in and why? Texas. I mean, that's it's so hard to win on the road and the committee values road wins in a huge, huge way like that road wins against top 10 teams. I mean, that's like check, check, check.

That's like, you know, lights up like a slot machine. Right. And I would put Texas in there.

And here's the thing, too. The committee, they always factor in the injury concerns. Right. If you're Texas, if it's just down to those two, one loss Texas and one loss Alabama, which in this situation would have had a win over Georgia in the SEC championship game. If it's just those two, you're going to look at Texas and they're going to say, all right, head to head win and then finished off the season, lost their quarterback midseason, still won games and then now lost their running back, who was the focal point of that offense, who's not going to be around the rest of the season. So that is that's more than enough to to keep Alabama from jumping them.

And is there going to be this is the discussion there? Yeah. But I think the only part of that discussion that makes sense to me in this scenario would be Alabama's hotter.

Well, yeah, I mean, that's fine. They also lost to Texas and Texas at that point was still trying to find itself, too. So, yeah, I don't I don't see a scenario where a one loss Texas Big 12 champ falls behind one loss Alabama SEC champ, knowing still that that one that Alabama would have a win over Georgia in that situation.

Everything you just said, I agree with and I would operate the same way. I just do not trust the committee to do what you just said and what I've been saying as well. I just can't see how they would leave out a one loss SEC champion in Alabama.

I look at I get it. But if we're going to sit here, you're saying that the branding is part of this, right? Yeah, that's what I think the committee will say. I think the game should matter.

They won head to head. Texas should get in. Well, yes, I get it. But it's also Texas. Like, OK, yeah, the SEC brand matters, but so does the brand of Texas. And they never will say this.

Look, I get mad at me when I say it. Brand matters. Marketing matters. They're never going to say it. They might not even the individuals might not even think it. But subconsciously, they know it.

They know what it means. And Texas, that brand matters a lot. And here's the thing, too, with in this scenario, Alabama would have the win over Georgia. That's great. It have a win over Tennessee.

That's OK. The win over Ole Miss doesn't look as good now. Some of those signature wins are kind of falling off a little bit. And at the same time, we still don't know what's going to happen with Texas, but they're there. They could be on the verge of chaos in the Big 12. And you know what that means and what what signature wins will develop between now and Selection Sunday, because there's a lot that could change.

Barrett Salih, about three weeks away from that. I'm just wondering. Right now, if you had to pick who you think will be the four teams at the end of the finish line, who do you think the four teams will be? Well, so here's the thing. You look at pinned at the top of my ex profile. I have my preview, my preseason picks. I am still sticking with the four I have.

And this this is I'm not making this up. I had Georgia one. I had Ohio State two. I had Florida State three in Oregon four.

Wow. And I do not think that's going to change because Ohio State's going to run the table. Florida State's going to run the table and Oregon's going to be watching in the back to a championship game to slide into that fourth spot.

I agree with you in Oregon. I think Georgia, Alabama is going to be epic right now, though I would leave with Georgia. Why do you think this year is different for Ohio State up against Michigan? Because right now I'm picking Michigan. And that may have to do with a few things that people are now calling me a Michigan fan and a big Michigan supporter. Well, I mean, I see the amazing blue behind you on the wall. So, you know, is that right?

That's just a fern. But no, I I think the difference is Jim Knowles defense here to Ohio State has significantly improved in that area. Do you trust McCord?

Yeah, I don't think there's a reason not to at this point. You know, he's he's a first year starter. He's been progressively getting better and it helps to be healthy. And they now speaking of, you know, we said Texas went through a bunch of injury issues and it did. I mean, Ohio States were were huge and Kyle McCord, like an average quarterback, would have let that destroy him mentally.

And Kyle McCord didn't. So I think the defense helps. I mean, even if it's they're just average, then they can I think can can slow down or do enough to be a national championship caliber team. And I think they're much better than that. And as a result, I think they'll slow down Michigan and get the job done.

I mean, look, it's a great game. It's going to be a game between two top four teams as it should be, because those are phenomenal teams. But I think this is a more complete Ohio State team than we've seen really since probably 2014. Does Washington Barret's League go down to Oregon State this weekend? No, but they will go down to Oregon in a couple of weeks when the Pac-12 championship game gets set. But I think Oregon State. They have so much motivation because of the Pac-2 thing, but and they run the football. But Washington and I know that Washington's defense is crap and it has been for a long time. But Stiles make fights. Washington's offense is going to make Oregon State score 30.

And even against Washington's defense, I don't think Oregon State can do that. When you get to Dan Lanning, I'm a big fan of him. He's just I said this to him when he was on the show last time. He's a football psycho.

And I mean that in like the nicest way possible. He gets on the field and it's just like a spell overtakes him. And he's nuts. He's awesome.

It's wonderful to see his energy. I believe him and I usually don't believe coaches when they say this when he's not leaving Oregon to go to A&M. I know his name has been thrown out there. I think he should learn from what Willie Taggart did leaving Oregon for Florida State and I don't even know Willie Taggart is right now. But do you believe Dan Lanning when he says I'm not leaving Oregon to go to A&M?

Yes. Yes, he's got a better job. Oregon's a better job than Texas A&M because you have the same amount of support. It's there. The Phil Knight money is there.

The Nike money is there. You're going to the big 10. Now granted, I think the revenue is going to take a while for Oregon to get the full revenue.

I get that, but it's going to come eventually. And it's a lot easier path in the big 10 than it is in the SEC. And so I think Dan Lanning, I think the difference between a top five job and a top 50 job is so much smaller now than it was 20 years ago. I think Oregon right now is a top 10 job. I think Texas A&M probably is too, but what's the difference? It's your taste. Do you want a $50 steak or do you want a $50 piece of salmon?

Whatever you're in the mood for. I think Dan Lanning stays. I think he knows that he can win at Oregon with this blueprint in the big 10 because his blueprint is very reminiscent of what he had at Georgia.

It's recruiting. It's getting big, fast, defensive lineman and offensive lineman. He's doing that. And I think some of his mistakes this year specifically in the Washington game came from the fact that he's still new at this. It's hard to make decisions when you're a second year head coach under the biggest spotlight of your life. And I think he can fix that. I think he can win at an elite level now and in the big 10.

So I think he stays. So if you had to take a guess right now, A&M and Mississippi State, who would your guesses be to fill those vacancies? Mississippi State, Jamie Chadwell from Liberty, formerly of Coastal Carolina. And A&M, I change every hour on this, but I'm going to say Mike Elko at Duke. And has the connections are obviously being at Texas A&M before taking the Duke job. Actually, you know what?

But here's the thing. And to say this as a dark horse for every job, I'm going to say this name, Jonathan Smith at Oregon State. He wants out of the pack, too. I mean, he's a great coach. I mean, if you're if you're a vacancy, if you have a vacancy, you call him and say, hey, man, what do you want? What do you want? Because, you know, we could probably provide anything that you need here.

But I think Elko for Texas A&M and Jamie Chadwell for Mississippi State. What's the interest? Not saying he's going to leave, but what is the interest from schools you think in this process on Coach Prime through year one at Colorado? I don't think there's a lot.

And I think it's because their jury's still out on what this blueprint can do. Right. Sizzles there. We know that the sizzles there.

You're going to deliver the steak. He hasn't yet. I mean, well, I guess he has to a degree because he got the spotlight on Colorado. That's part of why he's hired.

That's great. The expectations change after the first to reach the season before the year. He told me four or five wins.

Every everyone would have signed for that. When you go three, no, you expect to get to bowl game and he's not going to go to a bowl game. And I told and we said on Sirius XM on my show on Sunday mornings, I'm like, do not change your expectations. Do not reset your expectations. If you didn't think you'd get to a bowl game, he's probably not still. And he's not.

That's fine. It's a great season. I think the jury's still out from eighties on, can you still win? Because the marketing aspect of it, the sizzle factor, you can make a ton of money, but in the backend is, is it going to matter all that much or will it fade away? And I think there's a lot of people looking at Colorado thinking, all right, it's the foundation's there, but we still don't know what's going to happen. We don't know if this plan is going to work. And I think a lot will be determined by what he does this off season to supplement that roster, to actually build that debt. Cause that's the problem. They have no depth whatsoever and they need it. He knows it.

And I think the, he's going to have to show that he can implement it in order to, to get looks at other bigger jobs. He is Barrett Salih does a phenomenal job covering college football for CBS Barrett. Thanks so much for the time. Always appreciate it. You do Zach go Braves. There he is. Barrett Salih right at the end of the conversation, getting his Braves propaganda.

I can't stand him on Twitter when he's chiming and popping off about his Atlanta Braves. Good stuff there. We'll react to what he said about Dan Lanning on the other side. Plus we'll give you a thought on this big Thursday night football showdown that comes your way a few minutes after eight tonight, which you can listen via Westwood one watch at Amazon prime between the Ravens and the bangles update time. First, here he is the act man, rich Ackerman. Today's memorable moment is sponsored by our friends at Prevegen.

Prevegen is the most recommended memory support brand by pharmacists. When the bangles and Ravens squared off in week two of this season, Baltimore went to Cincinnati and won by a score of 27 to 24 Lamar Jackson completed 24 or 33 passes for 237 yards and through two touchdowns while Joe burrow had 222 yards on 27 to 41 passing with two touchdowns and a pick Baltimore leads the all-time series 29 to 27. And I think that's going to increase to 30 to 27 after tonight. I do like the Baltimore Ravens earlier in the week. I probably would have leaned Cincinnati because the game means more for the Cincinnati bangles, but I think timing is everything. I know both these teams are coming off a loss, but Ravens at home, I looked at that spread it's three and a half. I know that the home team usually gets the three points, but that just seems like when you go to three and a half, for some reason, I feel as if Vegas is begging you to plus the three and a half points with the bangles. Cause I do think whenever there's a AFC North showdown, most people believe that it's usually a three point game.

Like when you talk AFC North, you say what 24, 21, 17, 14, 20 to 17, 27, 24, like something like that. I do like the Baltimore Ravens to win this game tonight and I'll lay the three and a half points. I do have some anytime touchdown bets tonight. I hope there's a lot of scoring in this game. I don't know if there will be with both these defenses, but I took Lamar Jackson. I took Mark Andrews and I saw that Jamar Chase's odds were at like plus 135.

That seems a little bit low. I feel like they've been a little bit higher the last few weeks because there's been some up and down play and the bangles were starting to get back on track and then they lose that game to the Texans. So I'll plus the buck 30, buck 35 on Jamar Chase to get into the end zone. So I do like the Ravens tonight, just circling back on two things that Barrett Solis said, I could not agree with him more about what he said, Oregon compared to A&M. If this was maybe like Alabama open or if this was Georgia open, okay. You can leave Oregon for Alabama. You can leave Oregon for Georgia where he was under Kirby smart staff, but Texas A&M is a really good job. It's a great job. You have all the resources in the world, but you look at the Oregon job. It's a great job too, especially with the backing of Phil Knight going now into the Big Ten as well. And I know that a lot of people say, oh, landing is an SEC guy.

You could adapt. It's clearly whatever he's doing the last two years and Eugene has been working. So I believe landing when he says he's not leaving. I usually don't believe coaches when they say they're not leaving.

And I made this point the other day and I'll bring it up again. You got to learn from Willie Taggart. Willie Taggart had a great job at Oregon and it wasn't good enough for him. After one year, not good enough.

I need to go to Florida State cause that's where home was all that blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And now Willie Taggart, I don't even think he's on a coaching staff anywhere. Now I think landing could succeed anywhere he goes, but if it's not broken, don't try to fix it. And I think he has a great piece of real estate right now. He has the ducks humming going into the Big Ten.

I think he would be foolish to leave and I don't believe he will leave. And then in terms of the biggest scenario that is possibly out there with the college football playoff, one loss Alabama, one loss Texas, SEC champ, and then the potential one loss Big 12 champ, if it goes down that way. I agree with everything Barrett said that Texas should get in over Alabama cause Texas beat Alabama head to head in Tuscaloosa at Alabama's home stadium and Texas won by 10. Even though it's logical and even though it makes all the sense of the world for Texas to get in over Alabama, I just don't trust the committee to leave out a one loss SEC champ, especially in Alabama. Now Barrett makes a good point. If you're going to argue brand and it's all the brand of Alabama, it's not like Texas is the sisters of the poor, right? Texas is a pretty damn big brand as well. So maybe that does make it easier if it comes down to one loss Texas, one loss Alabama, one loss Big 12 champ, one loss SEC champ to put Texas in over Alabama. Right now the committee has Texas in one spot over Alabama, but if Alabama wins, they'll have that victory up against number one Georgia in the SEC title game cause Georgia is back in the number one spot. I don't think they're going to move off of it from now until the final rankings of the year where if they lose the SEC championship, then they would be out of the college football playoff picture.