Conference Championship Preview (Hour 3)

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Yep, Graybar does that. Alrighty, rocking and rolling. It is the Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio Hour number three of our radio program on this big football Friday. Conference championship weekend is here. Can't wait for the game tonight.

The Pac-12 championship game between Washington and Oregon. Here's what I ended up doing, guys, on the dinner front tonight. A buddy of mine is in town, and I can't stand when there's like a big sporting event. And I have a friend that's in town that's like, oh, I'm in from Philadelphia.

I'd love to see you. I'd love to go grab dinner. I'm like, I want to watch the game. Now, the game doesn't start until 8 p.m. Eastern. So we're going to a steakhouse right near my apartment, and I'm going to go to the steakhouse at 630 p.m. Eastern.

I don't care what my friends tell me. I don't care if the food's not out. At 745, 750 p.m. Eastern, I'm out of the steakhouse. I'm leaving.

Here's my credit card. Pay the bill. Do whatever. I am leaving, and I'm going back to my apartment, and I'm sitting down. I'll make myself a little dope beverage, maybe a little cocktail. Maybe hit up Brian in the chat, ask him what else I should be doing tonight on a Friday. And I am sitting in the comfort of my own apartment with the sound on and watching Oregon and Washington. And I don't want to be bothered. So if you want to bother me, you know, family, friends, anybody listening right now, make sure you bother me before 8 p.m. Eastern. Because when 8 p.m. Eastern happens, I don't want to hear anything other than Oregon and Washington, because I can't wait for this game. I want to play a little audio here real quickly.

I want to get to two things, one from the Oregon side and then also one from the Washington side as well. Let's go to Kalen DeBoer, the head coach of the Washington Huskies. He has been excellent, whether it was at Sioux Falls, whether it was at Fresno State, has a tremendous background. He was a star baseball player and also a star football player when in college.

I'm a big fan of Kalen DeBoer. Here's the head coach of the Washington Huskies saying getting to this game was the goal before the season did start. This is what we worked for, you know, since January 3rd when we had our first team meeting. You know, guys decided to come back, you know, come back and it was to win a championship. You don't talk a lot about it once you get into the season because you're just, you're focused on the next game. The next game is the most important. And now we get to, you know, focus on the next game and that next game is the championship game that we've had our sights set on since day one. I like Oregon in the game tonight. I'll tell you why in just a second. Now, I did pick Washington to win the Pac-12 championship before the start of the season.

So it shouldn't be a mystery to anybody that they are here. And I'm happy that these two teams are here because I didn't think there was a more overrated team in the country before the season started than USC. And USC didn't even get close to making it back to the Pac-12 championship game where last year unfortunately Caleb Williams got hurt and he wasn't 100% with the ankle. And you did see Utah who just owns USC beat them for the second time in that season. But these have been by far and away two of the better teams in college football. And clearly the two best teams in the Pac-12 championship in the Pac-12 and they're going to meet for the championship game tonight.

And you go through it like, I've said this throughout the week so this shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. There was three great games that I could recall this year that had a lot of hype going into them in college football and lived up to the hype. This was definitely one of them. I have not seen a better game in college football this season than Washington going up against Oregon. We also had that Red River game between Texas and Oklahoma where we all thought we were going to see a rematch similar here to the Pac-12 championship game in the Big 12. But Oklahoma did not take care of business even though they won that day up against Texas to get back in the Big 12 championship game. And you'll see Texas and Oklahoma State instead.

And then the other biggest game of the year was Michigan and Ohio State which was a good one last week in Ann Arbor. Let's hear from Dan Lanning who joined us on the show yesterday. Here was my part of the conversation with him talking about his relationship with Bo Nix.

We've talked before about your quarterback Bo Nix and you believed in him when you had to go up against him when you were at Georgia and he was at Auburn. For you guys to grow together the last two years, just how do you put it into words, that relationship and to see him playing at this elite level right now and what it means to you? I can't put it into words.

I can certainly attempt to but I can't. I feel like I have another guy that I'm coaching with. I have somebody that I'm really proud of to see their growth and the moments of adversity.

But also just their energy and enthusiasm to get better every single day makes me want to be better every day. You talk about the Heisman that's coming up and it's supposed to be for the best player in college football. It's hard for me to imagine anybody being better than Bo Nix and how much he's grown, how much he's improved. He's thrown for more yards than anybody else in college football.

This guy's throwing two interceptions and one of those bounced off a wide receiver's chest. So he's playing at a really high level. He operates our offense extremely well. I'm talking about gets us in and out of plays.

But to see him see the fruits of his labor and how hard he works, I'm really proud of him. You know, it's kind of crazy what I'm about to say, but I do think it's true. I don't know if there's been a more dominant team in the country this year than Oregon. And Oregon lost to Washington.

I fully get that. And you have four undefeated teams remaining here going into conference championship weekend with Georgia being undefeated, with Michigan being undefeated, Washington beat Oregon being undefeated. And then you also have Florida State, and we'll see if Rademacher is going to be able to play.

As I was watching that game last week, he got hurt, then he came back, and then there's some thought that maybe he's still dealing with a concussion. So I don't know if Florida State's going to be down to their third string quarterback, but you go through the Oregon schedule this year, they beat Portland State 81-7. They beat Texas Tech, who had high expectations going into the season 38-30. They beat Hawaii 55-10. They dismantled Colorado 42-6. They dismantled Stanford 42-6 as well. You lose to Washington by three, your kicker misses that field goal at the end of the game would have put it into overtime. You beat Washington State 38-24. Going into Utah, Kyle Whittingham, one of the more respected coaches in the country, that was my favorite bet of the season this year in college football.

The spread was 6-6.5. I hammered the ducks that day. California 63-19, USC 36-27, Arizona State 49-13, and then Oregon State 31-7.

You go through an entirety of a season. They've been the most complete team in college football. They've been the most dominant team in college football. Now, you've got to find a way to get redemption here against Washington, and I do think they will do so tonight. And not only do I think they'll win the game tonight, a big reason is going to be because I believe their defense is better than the Washington defense, which as of late, the Washington defense has played better. The Washington defense did a really good job up against Oregon State two weeks ago. But I just believe that Oregon is the better team, and I think Oregon wins the game tonight. I know the spread is saying it's 9-9.5 in favor of the Ducks. Makes me think that Vegas is begging you to plus the points with Washington.

I hope we get a classic today. I hope we get a game similar to what we saw back in the middle of October, but I am going with Oregon, and I like Oregon to advance to the college football playoff and get their revenge up against Washington. In the ACC championship game, I have been a big proponent of Florida State all season. Before the season actually started, here are my five Power Five Conference champions. I had George in the SEC, I had Florida State in the ACC, in the Big 12 I had Texas, and in the Pac-12 I had Washington. So you go through these games, and you go through these conference champions, and the Big Ten I had Michigan. And you start to look at some of those predictions and the way that it plays out, it's just a shame because the Florida State, you know, they win this game, they deserve to be in the college football playoff. You can't go undefeated in the ACC and not get into the college football playoff. But that Jordan Travis injury, it's just so devastating because you want to talk about one of the more likable players in the country, one of the more professional players in the country, one of the toughest players in the country.

Jordan Travis embodies all those characteristics and all those definitions. And it's just such a shame that three weeks ago, even when surviving some injuries this year, like his arm, his shoulder, but when his leg gets torn up on the field, it just felt like the Florida State season went out the window. Because he's their leader. And the last two weeks they've been close, but they still won.

I don't know. You're going up against Louisville. Louisville just lost to Kentucky. They now have two losses on the season. It makes people jump off what Jeff Brom and Louisville have done this year.

Now you don't even know if Tate's going to play the backup quarterback because he got hurt last week, then came back, but now there's some rumors that maybe he did suffer a concussion. There's always something that is funky that happens this weekend. And I think the last two weeks with Florida State surviving, people, I don't want to say got back in on Florida State, but thought that they would get to the finish line and be undefeated. You know, going into the playoff. I think Florida State goes down tomorrow. I like Louisville to win because it just wouldn't make any sense. I'm not saying Louisville's a bad team.

They only have two losses. But to lose last week to Kentucky, and everyone's out on the ACC championship game, Florida State will find a way to get in, and then people say, oh, but they're not one of the four best teams in the country. I think Florida State does the committee a favor this weekend, and they lose the game, even though I love Norvell, I love Jared Verse.

When Jordan Travis was playing, one of my favorite players in the country. But I do think Louisville wins the ACC championship. So, two games right there that before the season, I said Florida State, ACC champ, and I had Washington as a Pac-12 champ.

Through two predictions in, I have reversed what I said before the start of the year. We're now going into the weekend and the day today with Oregon going up against Washington in a few hours. I like Oregon to win the Pac-12, and I like Louisville to win the ACC. Getting to the Big 12 championship game, I was reading this story during the break. There's some dopey fraternity at Oklahoma State that they killed a Longhorn allegedly. And Oklahoma State had to investigate that fraternity today because that really shows you're getting behind your school in Oklahoma State and killing a Longhorn. What a bunch of dopey college students. I was in a fraternity in college. Everyone does dumb things when you're in a fraternity. When I was in college and Temple was playing a school with a mascot that had an animal, I never said, let's go kill the animal. Like, go drink, go have your fun, go get ready for the game, get belligerent, all that stuff. But there's no need to kill a Longhorn.

Just absolutely stupid. I think that game will be closer than what people think. I think the spread's up to 15 and a half. I would plus the 15 and a half points, but I don't think Texas is losing. I don't think Texas is losing. I think Texas will win the Big 12 championship game tomorrow.

Two more. Big 10, do we even need to do any analysis on this? The question just is, are there going to be more points for Michigan or are there going to be more punts for Iowa?

That's the only question that I have in this game. I don't think Iowa's going to punt the ball 34 times. I think Michigan's going to win this game. I think Michigan's going to win by a final score of, let's say, 34 to 3. That's what I'm going to go with. Maybe they get a touchdown early.

Wouldn't that be typical? You get a touchdown early at 7-0. No one thought this was going to be a game. It's a 22-point spread. Here come the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Here they come. And they don't score another point the rest of the game. I'm going to go 34 to 3. They'll get an early field goal. They'll go up 3-0. That's a prediction I give you.

They will go up 3-0. And then Michigan will score 34 unanswered. And that fraud of a commissioner, Tony Petitti, is going to have to walk over to Jim Harbaugh.

When Jim Harbaugh's in his khakis, his glasses, and his Michigan hat, and everyone's going to be saying, Boo! Tony, you suck! You fraud!

You loser! You coward of a commissioner! And Tony Petitti is going to probably sound like Rob Manfred at that podium because he's learned from Rob Manfred. He won't be able to basically make a coherent sentence.

He won't be able to understand anything that he's going to say. And he will, in a very weird way, give a very soft handshake, a limp handshake a little bit, to one Jim Harbaugh, hand him the trophy, and then run off the podium and probably cry himself to sleep. I'm taking Michigan to win the game. And then finally, the SEC Championship game. I hate picking against Saban in a big game.

I hate it. And I love what Saban has done this year with Jalen Milro. And when you go back to that USF game, I didn't think Nick Saban actually wanted to bench Jalen Milro.

But I think he allowed, for the first time in his career at Alabama, the outside noise to get to him. And they benched Milro for that USF game. Then the next week, he's back to being the starting quarterback. Milro, even though they almost lost it last week, and then on fourth and goal at the 31, he throws a touchdown in one of the craziest plays that you'll ever see. Milro has improved big time.

And I don't know how great of an arm he has, but running the football, Jalen Milro has been a stud. And this is a big game here for Carson Beck, where Carson Beck has played well, but that Georgia schedule, extremely soft this year. We said it all throughout the year, right? Death, taxes, Georgia's going to be undefeated in the SEC Championship game.

And here we are. This is a big moment against a great defense that Alabama has for Carson Beck. Bama, at times this year, has played with fire, right? They lose to Texas in Week 2, where Texas come to Tuscaloosa, and they beat them by 10 points. Against Tennessee, that game looked like the Alabama season was over, get ready to pull the plug out, and rest in peace, Alabama in the third quarter. At the end of the third quarter, Alabama's up. Last week, you're going to lose to Auburn in the Iron Bowl, when you already had the SEC Championship game set, and you have a legit chance to make the playoffs. I just have a feeling, and this is the one game where when I say the team that I'm picking, I just don't feel confident about it, because of who that guy is on the other sideline for the Crimson Tide. But I am taking Georgia in this one. So that would set up my four teams. It would be Georgia would be 1, Michigan would be 2, Oregon would be 3, and then Texas would be 4. So that would set up Georgia and Texas in a few weeks, and it would set up Michigan and Oregon. Those are my four teams for the college football playoff, so I see Conference Championship weekend playing on out. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a break.

We go from college picks to NFL picks. We'll do these, though, up against the spread when we continue in five minutes on CBS Sports. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

Carlos Ortiz, can you do me a favor? Can you fade this music? Fade this music. Just play the music from the start.

One more time for me, please. From the top. When Carlos started to play this, I felt like I was a mobster, and I'm about to get whacked. I'm about to get killed. The stream plays to black. Yeah, pretty much. And then when the beat picks up, it's coming in a second here. Then you ever see that video where someone makes a savage comment, and it's like, like a boss, and the sunglasses fade down?

I went from getting killed to then, I think, doing the killing when listening to that song. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Let's take a look at who's got home field advantage this weekend in our NCAA football preview, sponsored by Fairfield by Marriott. Fairfield by Marriott is the official hotel partner of the NCAA with over 1,000 locations around the country. You'll always have the home field advantage at visitfairfield.com.

Visit fairfield.marriot.com to book your stay. Number eight, Alabama. Alabama takes on number one, Georgia tomorrow in the SEC title game since losing to Florida in 2008. Bama has won eight straight SEC championship games they've been in, making Mercedes-Benz Stadium their second home.

I do like Georgia, though, in the game tomorrow and what's going to be, I think, a close epic SEC title game between these two schools. Alrighty, cue me up some NFL music, please. And we will get to our NFL picks for week 13 in the National Football League. Alrighty, I start in the swamps of Jersey, where it's the Atlanta Falcons going up against the JETS.

Is this Timmy Boyle or Pat Boyle starting at quarterback for gang green? I don't think it matters, but the Jets have a really good defense. Not a great defense, but a really good defense. I think the defense would be a great defense if they just had a competent quarterback. I look at Atlanta, even though they're five and six, new defensive play call, new defensive coordinator, they have a better defense this season. On the offensive side of the ball, I get scared by Atlanta because I don't think Arthur Smith has been putting this team in the best position this year. And I could see a situation unfolding on Sunday where Bijan Robinson and Tyler Algier are kept in check, and then Arthur Smith's going to kind of get off to this game and love the fact that Desmond Ritter could go win it for him, because he's been asking through most of the season Desmond Ritter to be more than just the game manager, which he should only be a game manager. Ultimately though, with how many mistakes I could potentially see Desmond Ritter making, he can't make more mistakes than whoever the Jets have at quarterback.

I don't care if it's Trevor Simeon, I don't care if it's Tim Boyle, Pat Boyle, Tim Boyle, Pat Boyle, or if somehow some way they go back to Zach Wilson. I like the Falcons this week. Falcons are a two-point favorite. Give me the Falcons laying two points in the swamps of Jersey, they'll get to six and six. That is pick number one.

Pick number two. I think this is good value here. The Kansas City Chiefs are coming off a win up against the Raiders where they played a poor first half and then they came alive in the second half. The Chiefs offense has not been clicking to the way that they usually do fire in the last few years when they were winning Lombardi trophies. They still got a chance to clearly win a Lombardi trophy this year. The Packers are coming off a great win up against the Detroit Lions. The Packers, they don't want to call it a win streak, but they've won back to back games taking care of business up against the Chargers where they came from behind and then also where they just dominated the Detroit Lions. I think this number is too low though.

I think this is, oh it's in Lambeau Field, it's legendary Lambeau Field, the Frozen Tundra, oh Jordan Love's coming alive, Christian Watson, Romeo Dobbs, you got Kenny Clark on the defense. I think this is a spread where a few weeks ago, it'd probably be like even on the road for Kansas City, nine, nine and a half, and now it's a six point favorite. I think this number, if I was making the spread, I would put a Kansas City as like a seven, seven and a half point favorite.

You know, maybe even eight. So I'm getting Kansas City here at a six point favorite. I love the Chiefs this weekend.

Love them. And their defense has not gotten enough praise. The Kansas City defense has been the best part of that team this year.

I know the offense has not clicked, but it's not as if the Packers have this wonderful great defense. I like Kansas City this week by more than a touchdown. Give me the Chiefs laying six points.

And then finally, I don't like to just pick all favorites, because if you just pick all favorites, that ain't fun. I'm going to take a dog this week. And I think you're gonna have to sweat this one out a little bit. I don't think this team is going to win the game. But I do believe this is going to be a sloppy game where Kyler Murray will be able to put up enough points even up against a really talented Pittsburgh Steelers defense where the Cardinals will be in the game. But ultimately, the Cardinals will continue to lose, but I like them to stay within six points.

I'm taking the Arizona Cardinals. They'll lose the game, but I like the Cardinals plus six points. The Steelers being a six point favorite against anybody, even though they're seven and four is just too many points because yes, last week, they I don't want to say they were wonderful. They were wonderful from a yard production on the offensive side of the ball.

Not necessarily a point production, but for them to beat any team in the NFL by a touchdown right now with that lack of offense, I think is too much. Like you look at their games the last few weeks against the Bengals, they won 16 to 10. Against the Browns, they lost 13 to 10. They beat the Packers 23 to 19. They beat Tennessee 20 to 16. They lose to the Jaguars 20 to 10. They beat the Rams 24 to 17. The Ravens, they beat them 17 to 10. You know, all their games this year, look at all their victories. Browns 26 to 22.

Raiders 23 to 18. Like these are close games. So six points. Kyler Murray is competent. He's a good quarterback.

He's better than Kenny Pickett, but his team's not better. So I like the Steelers to win the game, but I like the Cardinals to cover the six points. So my three picks for this week, week 13 in the NFL, I'm taking the Atlanta Falcons laying the two in the swamps of Jersey up against the Jets. I like the Chiefs as a six point road favorite at legendary Lambeau Field. And I'm taking the Arizona Cardinals going to Pittsburgh plus the six points against the Steelers.

Those are my week 13 picks. It is the Zach Gelb show right here on CBS Sports Radio. Alrighty, we will get to the update a little bit early today because when we come on back on the other side, we got a few questions. We got a few answers. We had to delay this segment, so we want to leave enough time to it.

We will get to onside, offside when we return. But first up with the latest CBS Sports Radio update, here he is, the act man, Rich Ackerman. Alrighty, it's time to answer our Ask the Pros question of the day and it's brought to you by O'Reilly Auto Parts. Jim in Louisiana says Zach, who's a team this weekend in the NFL that has the most to prove? 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 askthepros.

You could think O'Reilly Auto Parts via your car care needs, get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. I'll give you a few teams. I don't think they're going to win the game and I like the Chiefs by more than a touchdown as I just told you. But I think Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers have a lot to prove. They don't even necessarily need to win the game, but Jordan Love against a very good defense in Kansas City needs to play well and needs to keep them in the game.

Because Love the last two weeks, people start to say, oh, he's showing signs of improvement. Oh, he's starting to show that he could be the guy in Green Bay. That's all fine and dandy when you do that up against the Lions and you do that up against the Chargers. Now you get a team that is one of the definition of successful teams the last few years and have been the standard in the Kansas City Chiefs. Obviously, enormous pressure on the San Francisco 49ers.

You can't talk all that bull junk this offseason and say that Brock Purdy, he was healthy in that NSC title game. They would have blown out the Philadelphia Eagles. You got to go find a way to get a victory in Philadelphia this weekend. And the other two teams that I circle, I think it's a big spot for Detroit. Detroit 8-3. They've been the darling of the league.

Everyone loves them. Last week, isolated spot, Thanksgiving, first game up, and you got embarrassed in your own house by the Green Bay Packers. Now you're going to New Orleans, tough place to play, but you are the more talented and better team than the Saints. You can't allow what happened last Thursday to continue into this week.

I need a dominant performance up against the, you know, for the Detroit Lions up against the Saints. And the other one, I think there's a lot of pressure this week on the Broncos. Broncos have won five in a row. People are starting to talk about the Broncos as maybe a playoff team.

I have not been able to go there yet. I still have some trust issues in understanding how good this Denver team could be. But now, even, I don't know if you have the better coach and quarterback, you know, duo. You know, Sean Paden has been around a long time.

He deserves the benefit of the doubt. He's been a good coach to see the difference this year. D'Amico Ryan's young up and coming first year. What he's done this year has been remarkable. I would take CJ Stroud right now over Russell Wilson, but just like Sean, Russell deserves the benefit of the doubt because of what he's done in this league.

And last year may have been an anomaly, and last year got really ugly and really personal. But you look at the Broncos, you have the experience in the head coaching and the quarterback department. You got to win this game this weekend.

I know you're going to Houston. It's not a great home field advantage. And CJ Stroud and D'Amico Ryan's, they've been a very formidable football team. And they're coming off a loss to Jacksonville where the kicker hit the crossbar in the 58 yard attempt right at the end. But this is a game for Denver. You lose, I kind of look at you sideways and go, I told people to pump the brakes even in this five game win streak. So that's how I answer the question, give a gym in Louisiana a few teams that have some pressure on them this week. All right, we got a few questions.

I'll give you a few answers. We do the segment every Monday and Friday right here on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We call it Onside, Offside. Carlos Ortiz, hit it! Zach's taking on the most polarizing issues in sports. Which side of the line of scrimmage will he end up on? Offside, defense number 69. It's Onsides, Offsides with Zach Gelb on CBS Sports Radio.

All right, Stuart Kovacs, what do you got for me today, pal? All right, Zach, it was revealed yesterday that USC freshman Bronny James has been cleared to return to basketball activities. Is he related to LeBron James?

He is. Funny you mentioned that. You may have heard that a few times on this network. Yeah, just a few times the past couple years.

This was following his cardiac arrest episode during the summer. Well, after yesterday's 133-110 Lakers loss to the Thunder, LeBron James made this proclamation. Looking forward to his first game, whenever he's cleared and whenever he's ready to have his first game. I already told my teammates that if they play on the same day we play, then I'm going to have to catch the next game.

Yeah, I told y'all I'm going to play. Family over everything, champs. If I can definitely see Bronny's first college game, whenever he's cleared and ready to go. So, Onsides, Offsides, you are okay with LeBron missing a regular season Lakers game in order to see his son's college debut. A hundred percent, a thousand percent, two million percent. This is the easiest offside question I've ever had to answer.

I would say onside. First off, it's great that everything's going unbelievably well with Bronny James with what he had to go through over the summer. I can't even imagine what that's like to go through for him and then also his parents as well. And for LeBron James to miss a regular season game, so what? Like how many nights do players who don't have kids playing in college miss a regular season game for load management?

So you're 38, you turn 39 at the end of the month, you're getting towards the end of your career, your son's debuting in college. You have a game that night, tough luck. I don't think anyone's going to look back and go up. LeBron James missed one regular season game. There will be a jackass out there that says, you know, LeBron's just making this about himself.

Like let your kid shine. You know, shame on LeBron for going to the game and making this about him. They'll be an idiot there.

I guarantee you that will happen on the night where Bronny makes his debut and LeBron misses a Lakers game and goes to the game. Someone will be looking for clicks. Someone will be looking for attention. They'll get slammed on social media. But come on, this is a dad missing a day of work to go watch his kid play.

No problem with it whatsoever. Good job by LeBron. You're right. Coming up on Undisputed on Monday. Why? Why?

Michael Jordan is better than LeBron James. Oh, you're right. That's the idiot that would do it, Skip Bayless.

You're a thousand percent right. Well, he'll throw like his cowboy jersey once again in the trash can the next time the Cowboys lose. And it's the same Cowboys jersey every time. And also, with all the money that Skip makes, you would think Skip would have a bigger kitchen. That's my first take every time I see him throw out his Cowboys jersey, and he does like that exhale like, oh, that like really just wimpy grunt that he lets out. He's walking down the most narrow kitchen I've ever seen.

My New York City apartment is wider in the kitchen than Skip Bayless's palatial, yet not overly ostentatious estate in California. Alrighty, next one. Go ahead.

Alright, the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes are heating up on this Friday. According to your boy, Jeff Passan. Oh yeah, he blocked me on Twitter. Did he tweet something?

I can't see anything. Yeah, he did. He tweeted a few things.

I have to log into the CBS Sports Radio account when there's baseball breaking news to see what happens. He tweeted that the Red Sox, Mets, and Rangers are all now out on Ohtani and will begin pursuing other players. He also added that Ohtani's contract could surge well beyond the $500 million mark, and that he could sign a deal for over $600 million. So onsides, offsides, when we look back at Ohtani's contract, let's say 10 years from now, it will be considered a good deal for whoever signs him.

Oh, onside. Because that's just what happens in baseball. You have to give out these 10, 12 year deals, and even if you only get like six or seven really good years, you have to deal with on the back end just three horrible years for how much money this guy brings into a team and how much of an attraction he is. And he won't pitch next year, but he'll hit. And then he'll probably pitch the year after that. And eventually, you know, I do think he's going to have to pick one or the other or maybe use him in a bullpen type of role as well to condense the impact on his arm and the ask on his arm. But I would have no problem, you know, let's say six years from now, he's not the same player as he was, still paying Shoei Ohtani for the player and the impact that he makes on the diamond for, let's say, six out of those 10 seasons that you give him the contract.

So you asked me when we look back at Ohtani's contract 10 years from now, it will be considered a good deal for whoever signs him. Yeah, I would still say so onsides. All right, photographer Kevin Fitzgibbons revealed this week that he has been suspended for the rest of the season and possibly for good by the NFL. Oh, this was the 20-year-old, right? Yes, the photographer that when Tyreek Hill celebrated for the Dolphins in week six against the Panthers, he did the backflip.

You know, I asked this question when that happened. I said, he's got to know the photographer. Like that had to be one of his guys that Tyreek Hill just runs up to, takes a camera and then does this backflip.

Yeah, you would think so. So Fitzgibbons was seen jumping up and down excited, which the league apparently did not like. Tyreek Hill has since offered to pay the photographer's salary for the rest of the season.

Onsides or offsides, the league overreacted and should rescind the suspension for the photographer. So this is a 20-year-old kid. He's, I think, a student at Miami. He's become very big into social media. He's made a lot of connections with NFL players like Saquon Barkley, Antonio Brown, and obviously Tyreek Hill. He got employed by the NFL to work Dolphins home games.

So as an NFL employee, you have to remain neutral. Tyreek Hill didn't even know this was going to happen, the kid here, Kevin. Tyreek Hill scores a touchdown, runs over to him, takes the phone and does a backflip. The kid naturally, when he gets the phone back, jumps up and down and the NFL's like, you showed a side to a team so we got to suspend you for the rest of the year. Yeah, the league overreacted 110% and they should rescind the suspension of the photographer. Like, you want to send a message to a young kid, hey, we got to suspend you for a game or two, okay? But for the rest of the season, no chance.

And here's the thing, though. They are not going to rescind the suspension because he's now posted a video, which was smart, to make people aware of his situation and it's gone viral. The league is going to be saying, they haven't said he's fired, but the kid thinks he's never going to get his job back. There's no way now since the league's getting dragged, they're going to say, yeah, we're going to do the right thing here because the NFL never does the right thing.

So this is actually good for this kid in a weird way because he will get now more attention than he's ever received. Tyreek has already offered to pay his salary, right? And not only that, there's going to be another media company that comes along and says, oh, you're really damn talented, we're going to give you a job. So the league absolutely overreacted and should rescind the suspension of the photographer on sides, but they won't because you can never tell the NFL what to do. Speaking of the NFL, they decided to use their flexibility for a Monday night matchup for the first time. The league announced yesterday that week 15th matchup between the Chiefs and Patriots has been replaced by the Eagles and Seahawks. On sides or off sides, it's a good thing that the league can now flex out Monday night football games. Yes, because as a viewer in an isolated window, and I'm talking this as a TV consumer, I would rather see Eagles, Seahawks than Chiefs, Patriots. Now this was Chiefs, Patriots, Abrady and Mahomes, different story they have flexing out of this game. But it's now Bailey Zappi, I'm assuming, because I think he's going to start this week for the Patriots, even though this isn't the game that we're talking about.

But even if it wasn't, it's Matt Jones or the other quarterback that keeps on getting cut and they keep on bringing back for the Pats. So I think it's good for the TV consumers. You know what it sucks for? Fans. Like that had tickets to the game. Let's say you were traveling Kansas City to Foxborough, or if you were maybe making the trip for the Eagles, Seahawks game, and now they changed the day on you. That complicates the travel plans as well, but the league doesn't think about the traveling fans, because they already bought the tickets. The league thinks about the TV consumer, and yeah, it is a good thing that the league can flex out of Monday night games now, because it's good for the TV consumer we now get on paper a better game.

So I go on sides. All right, according to Diana Rossini, Jim Harbaugh is linked with both the Bears and the Panthers. While the Bears will likely have two picks in the top five of next year's draft.

Yeah, thanks to Carolina. Yeah, the Panthers don't have any picks, but they do have a quarterback in place in Bryce Young. So on sides or off sides, the Panthers will be Harbaugh's ultimate destination if he decides to leave Michigan after this season. Off side, and the reason why I say that, so I do a morning hit every Friday on this station, WF&Z with Mac and Bone, tremendous morning show in Charlotte, and they asked me today, what are your thoughts about Belichick or Harbaugh potentially being the next coach of the Panthers?

And I go, you have two guys that have a lot of ego, two guys that love the control and the power too. And you're telling me David Tepper, who doesn't know how to give up control and give up power, is going to hire one of those two guys? Like, yeah, Harbaugh's a great coach. Belichick's a great coach. We all know that. But I think that would just be a recipe for disaster because Tepper can't get out of his own way.

And he tries to control everything. So I could see him going to the Bears, Harbaugh. I think the Bills should be in. I think the Chargers should be in as well. But I cannot see him going to the Panthers. So I will say off sides.

All right. And last one, Patrick Sertan, the second is one of the best defensive backs in the league. But he recently joined the insiders podcast and made this revelation. It was funny because a couple of weeks ago, I was like, acting like I was lining up a receiver, you know, and doing some releases and some routes. And I was trying to get Sean's attention.

He looked, but he kind of brushed me off in a way. But, you know, I, I definitely time and opportunity to get those offenses because I would definitely be there and know her, you know, because I've always wanted to be offensive player growing up. So if I always get a time or a chance to play offense, you know, I would do so. Deion Sanders, Champ Bailey and Charles Woodson are the most famous cases of star cornerbacks getting some wide receiver reps. So onsides or offsides, it would be good for the league if more defensive stars got offensive reps in the future.

Sure. Onsides, it would be fun, but I'm a Broncos fan. I don't want to see Patrick stand on the defensive side of the ball because imagine if he gets injured that way. Now, I did say before the start of the season to Kenny Clark, who's joined us a bunch on CBS Sports Radio. He once caught a touchdown when he was at UCLA, I believe. And I was like, let's get you in the end zone. You used to play a little tight end. Let's use you on the offensive side of the ball for the Green Bay Packers. But I think it would be good for the league because it would be fun if you have more defensive stars get offensive reps in the future.

But I don't know how many coaches would actually do. But I still go onsides there. Alrighty, fun show today. This is Zach Yelp Show on CBS Sports Radio. I guess my buddy that I'm doing dinner with listened to me. He goes, hey, if you want to do dinner on Sunday because you got to watch the game tonight, 6-6-15, I'm available. I'm still in the city.

Like, are you serious? I'm doing iron football on Sunday, number one. Number two, if it's an isolated window with one game at eight, what makes me think that I want to go out for dinner in the middle of a football Sunday, even if I could?

People that just don't get sports, they're lost. Carlos Ortiz, great to see you as always. Stuart Kovacs, thank you as well. Big thanks to each and every one of you for listening, calling, tweeting the show. We will talk to you on Sunday for Iron Football Monday right back here in this time slot of 3 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific. Have a great weekend, everybody. We out. Bye-bye. Peace. It's getting delivered tomorrow. Visit Carvana.com or download the app to get prequalified today.