Zach Gelb hour 1

I'm Snoop Dogg, and I'm giving up smoke.

I know what you're thinking. Snoop, smoke is kind of your whole thing. But I'm done with it.

I'm done with the coffin, and my clothes smelling all funky. I'm going smokeless. Solo Stove Fix 5. They took out the smoke. Now you can have a nice blaze without any clouds ruining your day. Go smokeless.

Go to solostove.com. Tell them big Snoop Dogg sent you. Hahaha. Let's face it, most people aren't making massive turkey feasts on the regular.

And after 364 days of not thinking about it, it can be hard to get that bird just right. That's where Instacart, the holiday rescue app comes in. From getting all the ingredients to prep a full seasonal spread to getting last minute swaps in a turkey emergency, Instacart has everything a holiday host needs to save face and save dinner. And right now, if you download Instacart, you'll get free delivery on your first three orders and delivery in as fast as one hour.

Offer valid for a limited time, $10 minimum per order, additional term supply. Live from the play show yet not overly ostentatious studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City sitting on top of the tenth floor of 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Monday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, channel 158, the free Odyssey app and of course streaming on YouTube. 855-212-4CBS, number to jump on in.

855-212-4227, you could always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter at Zach Gelb, that's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. You got Stuart Kovacs and Jack Hardy rock and roll with me all the way up until 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. Dan Mullen, the former college football coach, now ESPN, ABC, college football analyst, he'll stop by 40 minutes from now. A whole lot to do to really unpack from over the weekend as you had the 49ers walk into Lincoln Financial Field and open up a can of whoop ass on the Philadelphia Eagles, you had the Kansas City Chiefs offense be nonexistent once again last night, another week through the NFL season as now we are 13 weeks in the books and Jordan Love, well he showed some love to Packers fans last night with his performance on the field. So we'll unpack all the craziness from a week 13 in the National Football League but we got to start with the college football and I'm not surprised what the college football playoff committee did and it is funny, sometimes when you have a platform like this, you say something in the moment and you think you know how it's going to play out but then once it does play out, your opinion is completely different. I don't think in the national media there has been a bigger backer to Florida State and supporter to Florida State that has zero ties to the university than yours truly. I picked him to win the ACC before the season started, we talked to Mike Norvell on this show all the time, even talked to him over the weekend, we had Jordan Travis on this show, we had Jared Vers on this show. I absolutely love Mike Norvell and what he has done with the Florida State Seminoles, but when Jordan Travis did go down, it would be disingenuous for me not to acknowledge this today. I sat here and I said, Florida State wins their next two games, they win the ACC championship, they should go to the college football playoff.

I said that across our 200 great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM channel 158, the free Odyssey app, and YouTube. But then seeing how it played out on Saturday, without knowing prior to that, that Alabama would defeat Georgia, Texas blows out Oklahoma State, you have Washington beating Oregon, and we all knew Michigan was going to defeat Iowa, and it just was the matter of where you're going to cover the 22 and a half point spread. When that all played out, I said to myself, wow, it stinks that Florida State is going to go undefeated and be held out of the college football playoff. And I was on the air yesterday, right at noon Eastern, and I on football, and when we were waiting for the committee to make their ruling, I sat there and I said, Michigan will be one, Washington will be two, Texas will be three, and then in at number four will be Alabama. Now let me acknowledge this right out of the gate to Florida State got screwed. But just because you got screwed doesn't mean I fault the committee.

And I know people could say well Zach that doesn't make any sense. How do you think they got screwed if they ended up getting out of the college football playoff not invited and you still think the committee made the right decision. Because it's this debate that we have, and what we've seen with the college football playoff committee, where their goal is to find the best team. They even said, it's the four best teams, a week ago, not the foremost deserving teams, but you do have to be deserving in some capacity to be one of the best teams, like, even though Georgia lost to Alabama and the SEC championship game and that was their first loss of the season. I think if we took all of our emotions out of this, we would all say, yeah, Georgia's one of the four best teams still in the country, even with their loss to Alabama, but they didn't have a resume this year. That shows that they belong and that they were deserving to go. If Georgia was, let's say, one of the four teams last year, where you had a situation where Ohio State backed in, and it was reverse, where last year was LSU who got to the championship game let's say it was similar circumstances let's say LSU upset Georgia, Georgia would have backed into the college football playoff, because there was not enough deserving teams last year, and that's what happened with the Ohio State. This year was one of the rare years, and the irony of it being in the final year of the four year existence of the college football playoff before they ruin the college football playoff and go to 12, where four wasn't enough. And I'm someone that has been vehemently opposed to going to 12 teams. You want to throw in six, you want to throw an eight, I could live with it. But going to 12 makes absolutely positively zero sense. And it ruins a lot of fun that we've had on this show and watching the sport.

The last three to four weeks. So the best way that I could say this, and a lot of times it makes no sense. People are going to get on these platforms, yesterday, today, tomorrow, and they're going to talk, really in circles, because you can make a great case for Florida State going. But you could also easily make a great case why they shouldn't be one of the four teams. So I think we all remember going back to elementary school or middle school, what a Venn diagram is. And that's really what the college football playoff is. On one side of the Venn diagram, it's who's the best teams. The other side, it's who's the most deserving team.

And then how you meet in the middle with the two circles is what determines who's going to be the four best teams. And there is a criteria clause in the college football playoff committee that does put injuries into the evaluation process. And it stinks, it's rotten, it's nasty, that Jordan Travis did get injured, because Jordan Travis was one of the toughest players in the country.

He was one of the best leaders in the country. And also, he was a part of one of the better teams in the country. But once he goes down, and Rademacher then gets hurt, it would have been cleared in time for the college football playoff, and you're in a third string quarterback, and you're in the ACC championship game. And yes, you still won the game, and that's the objective, to win the games on your schedule. And Florida State won all those games.

When I look at the teams that were on the Venn diagram of the best and most deserving, there were just too many teams this year. And even though Florida State was undefeated, they get hosed out of being one of the final four teams. You're not keeping Michigan out. Michigan was an undefeated Big Ten champion, and they beat Ohio State. You're not keeping Washington out. They were undefeated Pac-12 champion. They belong. So this was never a conversation of Michigan.

This was never a conversation of Washington. It was there's three final spots, Texas, Alabama, and then Florida State. And this is something that I despise, but it does hold true here. I always say we should determine the value of a win when it happens. But unfortunately, it goes on with how the win ages. Like, you look at Florida State. I picked them early in the year to beat LSU. They annihilated LSU in the second half.

That would have been as good of a win in week one, right? You would thought they'd be one of the best wins in college football. But it ended up not because even though LSU may have the Heisman Trophy winner, they couldn't play an ounce of defense, and they had three losses on the season. And yes, I understand Florida State beat Florida, but Florida isn't a good SEC team this year. So this came down to Texas, who was deserving, even though they had one loss, but they beat Alabama by 10. You knew Texas was getting in, because in order to get Alabama in, you had to put Texas in. So when you go through this process, and you have it trickle on down to that fourth spot, it was FSU, or it was Alabama.

And I know that this isn't probably a fair way to do it. And I admit, this year the process absolutely sucks. But does anyone think, in three, four weeks, when you would see the semifinal on New Year's Day, that if we just had a matchup of Alabama going up against Florida State, does anyone think Florida State would win the game?

I don't. And that's coming from someone who's been one of the more positive and has been someone that has, to the utmost, backed this Florida State program. And some years, when people use that argument, it isn't fair. Like Alabama last year, you could have made the case maybe they were one of the four best teams in the country, but they didn't deserve to belong. So Nick Saban getting on ESPN last year and saying, oh, we would be a favorite over all these, you know, over that fourth seed, Ohio State, blah, blah, blah, like whoever they were considering, you didn't have a seat at the table last year.

You didn't have enough backing. This year, you did. And that's why this year, that argument is valid compared to it being last year. And let me just caution everybody, because you have some dopes that get on social media, you have some morons today that go, see, this is why we need a 12-team college football playoff.

No, we don't. There is no need to go to 12 teams. 12 teams is based off greed. 12 teams is also based off the participation trophy society at times that we do live in. Because you're going to give Penn State an invite in this 12-team format to the college football playoff. Penn State, their two biggest games of the season, they show me who they are.

They can beat up on all the other Big Ten teams, but they can't beat Ohio State, they can't beat Michigan. And that's why I've always stood on expansion of the college football playoff. I didn't think most years it's necessary, most years it hasn't been necessary, but I could understand going to six or eight. And if you did go to six or eight teams this year, this would have been a non-story with Florida State.

It really would have. And I know some people, they freak out, well, Florida State, they put them at five, why'd they put them in front of Georgia six? All that matters is really one, two, three, and four.

That's all that matters. You knew they were going to put Florida State fifth, whoever's after that six, seven, eight, nine, ten, it doesn't mean Jack to me. So with the teams that were the best teams and the teams that were most deserving, I do believe the committee got it right. I'm fully cognizant, not everyone's going to agree with me.

I know that we could probably contradict on either side of the fence and multiple times during this conversation when it does play out. But when you look at these four teams, this is maybe the first time ever that we truly don't know who's going to win the national championship. Because I can make a case for Michigan, I can make a case for Alabama, I can make a case for Texas, I can make a case for Washington. Florida State gets in the playoffs yesterday, and let's say Alabama's not, I can't make a case, even though Florida State's undefeated, that Florida State would be able to win two games where their offense is right now to go win a national title. And I feel terrible for Mike Norvell. I told him that yesterday.

I don't know what you say to your kids. I think the lawmakers now trying to make this like a litigious situation is absolutely ridiculous. It's college football. Let's not get crazy. Let's not get delirious here. We don't need lawsuits.

I don't need politicians sucking up the people to get more votes. But I'm okay. I'm satisfied, even though I understand the emotions of this, with what the college football playoff committee did. Let's hear from Boo Corrigan on putting Alabama in over Florida State. Florida State is a different team than they were through the first 11 weeks. Coach Norvell, their players, their fans, you know, an incredible season.

But as you look at who they are as a team right now, without Jordan Travis, without the offensive dynamic that he brings to it, they are a different team. And the committee voted Alabama 4 and Florida State 5. And you can look inside the Michigan event with all the Michigan football players, when they were waiting for that fourth spot. Now, Jordan Travis, though, with Florida State, I don't think you get this reaction with him being hurt. You knew the decision was between Alabama and Florida State.

You heard the groans in that room. You heard the ahhh when they elected to go Alabama over Florida State. And that innocent, genuine reaction kind of shows that Michigan being the number one team in the country, even they were polling for Florida State over Alabama, because they knew Alabama was a better team than Florida State. I'll play you one more from Boo Corrigan on ESPN, what the committee was looking at when debating FSU and Bama. I think it's one of the questions that we do ask is from a coaching standpoint, you know, who do you want to play? Who do you not want to play? And as we go through that, again, looking at where we are today, right?

Not where we were three weeks ago or, you know, eight weeks ago. Who do they want to play? Who do they not want to play?

And they've got a significant voice in the room. And as we went through that and we went around and around, late last night, came back again this morning to do it again. And, you know, again, we came back with, you know, the top four as we did.

And I have no problem with the top four. I do feel bad for the coach of Florida State, Mike Norvell. He looked like he saw a ghost when he was sitting in that chair. And you saw the anger and the frustration building up in his hands. His hands were shaking and sometimes your hands shake and you're nervous.

His hands were shaking with anger. And I don't care who you are, you could be the strongest guy on the planet. And Mike Norvell is like the nicest guy.

I really do believe you could be the strongest guy on the planet. You walk in front of Mike Norvell there and he throws a punch, you'd be knocked out and you'd be down on the floor. Because he was so angry yesterday and I could understand it. Here's Mike Norvell on not reaching the college football playoff. I was just hurt for our players. I mean, to be honest with you, that was one of the tougher moments I've had to experience. And, you know, just for all that they've done, you know, you talk to a team about, you know, responding to adversity.

Getting up and going to give all that you can to be able to find a way to win a college football game. And, you know, like Coach March said, it is hard. I mean, it's hard to do. It's hard to, you know, especially when you face some of the adversities that we've had.

You hear this year, whether it's injury or just different things to overcome. But, you know, it's all part of it. And, you know, as we tell our team all the time, you know, your truest identity shows up in times of great adversity. And we faced it and, you know, they put it on display.

So that was really that feeling in the moment. And now they will be going to the Orange Bowl where they'll be going up against Georgia. And I think the press conference where you saw the picture and picture of Kirby Smart and Mike Norvell showed that this is the we don't want to be here bowl. That's what I'm going to call the Orange Bowl this year. And whenever you have these bowl games that are not for the top four and you had top four aspirations, you never know who's going to play.

You never know where the motivation is going to be. I would still say even if Georgia doesn't give it their best, Georgia will be able to defeat Florida State just because Florida State doesn't really have the quarterback. But wouldn't that be something if for most of the year we've thought that Georgia was the best team, regardless of who Georgia puts out on the field, Florida State beats them and they're undefeated. You may have a little UCF situation where Florida State claims that they are the national champions in the year of 2023.

Do you think the college football playoff committee got it right? 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. We'll take a break on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll take your phone calls on the other side. Plus, the San Francisco 49ers with my best friend Deebo Samuel went to Philadelphia on Sunday. And Deebo, he talked the talk and then he walked the walk.

What a performance that was. We'll touch on the 49ers Eagles next. Visit FelixCatInsurance.com to learn more about their customizable coverage for felines. Sorry, no dogs allowed. That's FelixCatInsurance.com.

Get it meow. Insurance is underwritten by Independence American Insurance Company and produced by Independence Pet Group. Pre-existing conditions are not covered. Visit FelixCatInsurance.com slash terms for all terms and limitations. Visit FelixCatInsurance.com slash terms for all terms and limitations. Visit FelixCatInsurance.com slash terms for all terms and limitations. Visit FelixCatInsurance.com slash terms for all terms and limitations. Visit FelixCatInsurance.com slash terms for all terms and limitations. Visit FelixCatInsurance.com slash terms for all terms and limitations. Visit FelixCatInsurance.com slash terms for all terms and limitations.

Visit FelixCatInsurance.com slash terms for all terms and limitations. I personally would have kept Florida State in. in. I would have put in Alabama because number one, as the committee said, we look at where teams are now. Okay. Alabama is not the same team that Texas beat in week one. Okay.

Number two, Alabama had a higher strength of schedule and I believe didn't they beat one more top 25 team than Texas did. I think so. Sorry, I'm walking.

Here's some of the law. I can tell you out of breath when we went to you or breathe in heavy. I was wondering if everything's okay. Well, I was running, you know, I'm running out here and then I know you're a little bit of a blender. I say this as a Michigan fan. I know you're in a little bit of a blender knowing that you have to go up against Alabama, but we got some time to get to the game. Don't lose your breath and not make it the kickoff.

All right. No, it's not because of that, but see, I would have put Alabama and I just here, here's my rationale to Zach. And it's that, you know, going through the Alabama, hold on. I do agree that the committee, if it somehow came down to Alabama or Texas, they would probably put in Alabama because I don't think they would ever leave out a one loss sec champion, but Alabama, they played Texas, Alabama played Texas in their own building where Alabama was the home team and Texas beat them by 10 points and Texas hasn't fallen off and they survived their quarterback getting injured and now he's back. That's true, but like I said, Alabama played a tougher schedule.

I mean, I think that carries a lot. But it's not like Texas played cupcakes. No, but I think, who do you think would win right now, Texas versus Alabama? I think Alabama would throttle them. I do.

But who do you think would win Texas, Florida state? Yeah, well I know. And Darren, let's not lie here. Let's not lie here. Let's be truthful because we're men, right?

We don't lie to one another. You know, this as a Michigan fan, you were hoping Florida state was, was popping up on that screen at number four. Uh, a little bit, but that's not my total rationale. Here's my rationale.

Cause I was, I was hoping Florida state would pop up. This is what I'm thinking though, Zach, because you know, with the Michigan scan scandal, all they talked about was, well, you know, you can't keep them out of the big 10 championship cause that would punish the players for what someone else did. You know, you can't keep McCarthy out of the Heisman trophy race because again, that would punish a player for what someone else has did.

Okay. They are literally punishing every player on that team because one player had the audacity to get injured. I mean, right. I mean, it's not his fault that he got injured.

He's the leader of the team and he had a broken leg, but, but you know what? And I know it Florida state is not as good as a football team as they were without Jordan Travis. Yeah.

Yeah. I just, I mean, you know, look at, but look at last year, be honest, just be honest. You'd rather play Florida state than Alabama.

That's not why I'm suggesting this, but just answer the question. I already did. I said, sure.

I can't. I think because why Alabama's a better team. Alabama's a better team. It isn't the goal to put in the four best teams.

You not also have to be deserving. Now, Alabama loses to Auburn. Let's just say, and they didn't have that fourth and goal at the 31 completed for a touchdown. And they still beat Georgia the following week. Alabama would not have been deserving of one of the four best teams. And I know the committee's role is, is they say we just look for the four best teams, but as they shown, whoever the four best teams are also have to be deserving. There's a mixture of both and Florida state was deserving to go. They didn't lose a game, but they were not one of the four best teams compared to the other teams that were both the best teams and the most deserving teams. It's complicated. Next year won't be an issue though, because they're going to 12 and then you'll have a bunch of teams that aren't the best teams in college football and quite frankly, aren't deserving as well.

Alrighty. I got to touch on the San Francisco 49ers and I'm surprised Ryan and Santa Barbara didn't call in about three hours ago, just waiting to feast, just waiting to pounce on the body of yours truly and just start to go crazy and go nuts and talk about his 49ers. But I'm a fair person. I did think the 49ers were going to win the game up against the Eagles. I thought this was going to be a three-point game. The Eagles were the better team in the first quarter, but they didn't capitalize because that was a 49ers team that was struggling in that first quarter and the Eagles were only able to get two field goals. The next thing you know, once the 49ers got that touchdown on an incredible catch by Ayuk and an aggressive play calling by Kyle Shanahan and you make it seven to six, that was panic time for Philadelphia and Philadelphia has been in the ring of the last few weeks.

Eventually they were ready to get burned. Not only did they get burned on Sunday, they got dominated. But for the most part, we're pretty much through 13 weeks of the season. I know you got the Jaguars and the Bengals and the Jaguars have an excellent record that will come your way later tonight. But I said this last week and I'll stick by, I don't think there's four teams this year that could win a Super Bowl.

I really do believe that. It's the Chiefs, it's the Ravens, it's the 49ers and it's the Eagles. And when I look at those four teams and you can factor in all the other teams to get to 32 as well, it's clear right now the 49ers are the best team and I don't care what the records say, it's not even close. The 49ers smashed the Cowboys, the 49ers smashed the Eagles. And the only time the 49ers had a stumble was a three-week stretch where Trent Williams was hurt and Deebo Samuel was hurt.

And I'll give credit to Deebo and I know he hung up on me over the summer, but he talked the talk. He said James Bradbury was trash. He said they had Brock Purdy in the NFC title game, it wouldn't have been close.

And what happened yesterday? They had Brock Purdy, they had Christian McCaffrey, they had Trent Williams, they had Deebo Samuel and that game was a blowout. Now I'd be curious to see that game again and I bet you that game would be a little bit different.

I bet you'd be a lot different. I think it would be a really close game the next time those two teams do play. But right now, if you are looking at the chase to the Super Bowl and the team that's going to get the Lombardi and when we do take five Wednesday on Wednesday, who's the best team in the NFL?

I'll spoil it for you right now. I won't tell the other four, the 49ers are going to be in that top spot and they're deserving of it. And outside of some injuries in a three-week stretch, they have been a phenomenal team all year long. They destroyed the Eagles and I'd be curious if the Eagles are going to bounce back up against the Cowboys. They just saw that they signed Shaq Leonard as that decision was Cowboys or Eagles. He picks the Philadelphia Eagles, Jerry's World, Sunday night. You have a team coming off their first adversity of the season, the Eagles going up against the Cowboys.

And Cowboys fans, let me give you a message early on this Monday. You better win that game. I don't think you will right now, but you better win that game with all that trash talking that you've done beating a bunch of bad teams. You weren't able to beat the Eagles the first time you played them. You weren't able to beat the 49ers. This is an enormous game. Like the 49er game against the Eagles was enormous for the 49ers, meant more for the 49ers than the Eagles.

This game, Eagles Cowboys, it is so important for the Dallas Cowboys because the Cowboys don't win this game. They just continue to show the signs of a team that could crush the bad teams when they go up against good competition. They just can't beat them. And the Niners this year, I'll make this abundantly clear. Anything short of a Super Bowl is a massive, and I mean a massive disappointment because you look around, the Chiefs offense is no bueno this year. The Ravens have Lamar Jackson. They don't have a lot around Lamar Jackson. And then in the NFC, the one team that's really in your way, the one team that can match up with you, the Eagles, well, you just ran them off the field yesterday in their own building. So Super Bowl or bust, we all knew that going in, but now it's Super Bowl or bust on steroids for the San Francisco 49ers. We'll take a break and this is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

When we come on back, Dan Moen will join us. Did the committee get it right by leaving Florida State out of the big dance? Update time first. Here's the act man, Rich Ackerman.

Alrighty. This is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. The college football playoff committee has made their decision. And on new year's day, we will see Alabama and Michigan. We'll also see, uh, Washington, uh, going up against Texas and out joining us as the former head coach at Florida and Mississippi state. Now does a great job for ESPN and ABC.

And that is Dan Mullen coach. Appreciate the time. How are you? I'm great. How are you doing today?

Well, I'm doing fantastic. So let me start you off with Alabama before we get into the committee's decision. When they lost to Texas, I thought for sure they would have one more loss in the season and they would be out of the final four conversation. Just how about the job Nick Saban has done this year with Jaylin Milro and the rest of his team?

I think fantastic job. I think one of the things you look is they, they lost the text that they were struggling early in the season, uh, went down to South Florida revenge, Jaylin Milro. And, um, you know, I, I think he said Tommy Reese, they had a meeting, you know, once they sat him down, they, they called in a meeting, they sat down and said, listen, uh, I understand Tommy, this, this scheme you're bringing in different things you're trying to do, but you know, as a younger coach and Nick knows this as a veteran coach, you're the scheme. It needs to be built around the sense of the player. So we need to really focus on what we're doing. Let's rebuild the offense around the strength of the players. And that day for you, you've seen facts decrease drastically seeing Jaylin Milro have a lot more success running the offense. You've seen a receiver start to grow and emerge on the offensive side of the ball. We knew this year, they'd have a great defense.

We saw them. They have a great defense, done a great job. And I think this is a team that Nick likes to coach them. And we go back to her and make sure early success, they played defense. They ran the ball, they were physical and they won well, we're scoring games, not like close games, but lower scoring games over the last couple of years, they've just been a highlight reel of offensive talent.

Um, you know, I don't think Nick was out of his comfort zone in coaching this team. Now get into the PAC 12 championship game. Everyone thought Oregon was going to win. It seemed like, and they were going to win going away. Washington already beat Oregon, uh, back a few weeks ago.

Just how about what Kalyn DeBoer did? Cause it seemed like not that you need extra motivation before the PAC 12 championship game, but that team had it with everyone disrespecting them. Absolutely. Well, I mean, as everybody says, Oregon was the best team, right? We keep using the best team right now. There's a lot of best teams, right? So Oregon was the best team.

However, uh, objective like subjectively, Oregon was the best team. When you got on the field, Washington said, Hey, twice, you had the opportunity twice. We beat you, we beat you at home.

Then you got the opportunity on a neutral side field. Um, I think Washington's done that all year. They've had a lot of close games. Um, you know, people look and say, well, boy, you've been in this tight game, that tight game. Um, you know, with, with teams, maybe you should beat by more, uh, if you're supposed to be this great team. However, they did what, you know, what I love about Washington, they win, uh, and you've seen it no matter, sometimes they win by scoring and throwing, scoring a lot of points, throwing the football over the place, all over the place. Sometimes they win with defense. Sometimes they win running the football. Um, they've won a lot of different ways this year and that's the sign of a great, great, not just great coaching, great program, great team. Dan Mullen here with us.

Alrighty. Let's get to the big decision yesterday. I know you've been reacting for it to last 24 hours, but when it came down, that Florida state was left out and Alabama gets in, you said, I think it's disrespectful to the game of football. Uh, and it's disrespectful, not, not to the fans, not to people, people that play the game.

I certainly hope people that play understand what I'm saying. When you say it's disrespectful to the game, uh, Florida state went out, played every single week and they won and they won with their quarterback. They won without their quarterback. They won with offense. They won with defense. They won big, they won coming back.

They won in overtime. Uh, they won on Saturday against one of the, uh, with a third string, two freshmen quarterback, uh, that I hadn't played. And they were playing one of the best rush defenses in America. They rushed her on 170 yards in that game. All that Louisville had to do was just score one touchdown, one touchdown. The game's over. Couldn't do it. In fact, not only could they not score, they had negative 23 yards of offense in the fourth quarter.

That's Jeff Brahma, Jeff Brompton, you know, and everyone knows what a great coach he is. And they were held to negative 23 yards. They blocked the punt and got the ball inside the 10 yard line, couldn't score.

Um, that was as masterful a defensive performance as you will ever see in a, I mean, a, of a team back to the wall performing. And I think it was disrespectful to the game of football that they got left out. And I, listen, I, Alabama, there were five teams that earned the right to play.

I don't like that. Everyone says the best team, but we just, you already, we made clear that Oregon was the best team. Georgia was the best team, but they lost. So subjectively, they were the best objectively. They lost. So, um, to sit there and take a team that did everything right.

I think, I think that, that that was wrong. And what would you have done? Just wondering, like you were in charge of the committee, who would have your four teams been? Oh, I would have, I would have had a Michigan one, uh, Washington two. Um, I would have had Florida state free because that would have been my easy one, two, three. And then as you're comparing my four discussion, I, there'd be four teams you're comparing for the four spot, which would have been, uh, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio state and Texas. Well, I'm going to eliminate Ohio state cause they didn't play in a conference championship game.

So I'm down to three. Well, Alabama beat Georgia and Texas beat Alabama. So I ended up with Texas and listen, I, Georgia, Georgia has the right to blame that they should be in the playoffs. Um, Alabama certainly, um, earned the right to be in the playoffs. I've even more so the Georgia Alabama earns the right. So, um, this is not a knock against Alabama. I just think that Florida state should have been in. And if you, if you look at it that way and say, Hey, anybody that's ever played the game, it is so hard to go undefeated.

So hard in, in any level, I want a high school state championship. We weren't undefeated. I won two national championships as a coach, which we weren't undefeated in either of those. It is so hard to go undefeated.

And those guys did everything. And when you were comparing the teams, you can make different arguments, strength of scratch, strength of schedule, strength of rank, ranked opponents. Who'd you play?

When did you play? And what'd you, the one thing you couldn't compare with the losses and that Mike Norville had said, great that, Hey, every, there are five teams earned the right to get into the playoffs, but there were two of them earned losses as well. They earned those laws. They lost the game. They had the opportunity to win and they earned a loss.

His team never earned a loss. His team found a way to win. And in the end, it's not figure skating where the East German committee member, right? The East German committee member must've stood up and get like, I'm rating Florida state 20th. And Oh, because of that rating, we're going to put the, we're going to drop them down.

Um, so I think that's what it was. And, and unfortunately, and honestly, I look at it, I can justify how, again, Alabama earns the right to go to the playoffs. I could justify them being left out. I can justify that they lost. They have one loss. They lost the Texas by double digits at home. So I can justify Texas being ahead of them. I don't see the justification for Florida state being out. Their quarterback was hurt and they put on one of the most masterful defensive performances you'd ever seen.

I mean, the, the object is to win the game. I, as a coach, I've gone into games. I I'll take it by, I was coaching Mississippi state.

We went into the swamp. We ran the ball 42 consecutive place. That's the only way we lose the game is if their defense scores, we won 10, seven, wasn't pretty, but it was a win that the object is to win.

And the committee disrespected that. Just wondering, Dan, um, they go to 12 next year. So these conversations will be like, Oh, 11 or 12.

I I've never been a fan of going to 12, six or eight. I could live with, where do you fall in a college football playoff expansion? I think, I think the whole thing's a mess. Um, we'd be here for the, you know, the next week talking about it. I think, um, you know, I mean, they've kind of gone to the big two conference now. Um, but then the playoffs don't always align with that because the champions get camp conference champions get by we've hurt, you know, all these great rivalries and college football and things that make them special.

I think there is such a, I I'm with you. I, I, I I'd love to, in my quick response and in the off season, I might get into it really in depth, but I'll give you a quick one. I think we should have a commissioner of college football. I think you should go to eight, 18 conferences. You pull out college football of those eight, 18 conferences, uh, all the network, let them bid on which one of those ones that they won and buy the money will all equal revenue share it. And then there's revenue sharing with a salary gap for the players, uh, in there.

So everybody's on equal footing. Uh, the eight winners there's, you don't need a conference championship game weekend. You win you eight division winners, make the playoffs for wildcards and the bottom eight play. Then we take the teams that are right now on the lower side of it. And we're going to drop them into another eight, 18 bracket. Uh, the winners of that can play for their kind of what if we want to call it a, you know, kind of like a, you know, there's the premier league and there's the championship. Let's go to the English soccer on it right now. And there's a relegation game. You want, Hey, the second week of December is the relegation game between the last place and the first place team, um, in the different divisions. And so if you finish, you know, for example, like just throw an SEC West team out there, Arkansas, they finished last in the West right now they're playing Troy to go down to the, what essentially would be a sunbelt and Troy's plan to come up into the SEC.

Um, I think that'd be a pretty, pretty exciting little deal, um, of, of some things that we could do or change football, uh, and, and, and make it fair, you know, I mean, or, or make it even, I think we've kind of let it get a little out of control and there's, there's no perfect answer for how it's currently set up. He's coach Dan Mullen doing a great job for ESPN and ABC coach. Appreciate the time as always. Thanks for doing this.

Always great to do that. You know what, you know who won though college football, because I will say this, the match-ups that we have, and not just the four playoff match-ups, but the bowl games as a whole, there are some unbelievable match-ups coming up over the next month. And I can't wait to see them play.

I hope we don't have a lot of opt out, uh, or kids decide transfer, not playing and doing this because there are some unbelievable match-ups out there. You know, I mean, Missouri, Ohio state Penn state, old, I mean the old miss game. I mean, there's some great ones. The playoff game, Florida state, Alabama could be a great game. I mean, I'm sorry, Georgia, Georgia, Georgia, Georgia, great game. Um, there's so many really good ones out there. I mean, you go, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm fortunate enough, you know, I mean, we're getting to getting to call some good ones coming up. There are some great bowl games going to be played in the, uh, in the next month.

And so college football still wins. They did a great job with that, but, uh, you know, I, I, I wish it would have just turned out a little bit more objectively instead of subject. Thanks so much, coach.

Appreciate the time. There he is coach Dan Mullen joining us on CBS sports radio. And I think he makes a very interesting point the way that he worded it. It's disrespectful to the game of college football and to the game of football.

I've never thought about it that way until he said it. And even though I'm fine with what the committee did, it's like, what does Mike Norvell tell his team? You're not at, uh, a non power five school.

You're at a power five school and you want every game you played. Like you would have told me that heck two weeks ago, like not even going to the summer, I would have said it. I did say that you would be in the college football playoff, but you're not.

So I'm fine with what the committee did. Cause I don't think Florida state would have beat Florida beat Alabama. But each and every year to Dan's point, there's a game where we expect to go one way. And then it happens the other way. Like Oregon was a nine, nine and a half point favorite against Washington and Washington took it to them early and found the way to win the game late. Zach Gelb shows CBS sports radio. I see Ryan and Santa Barbara is going to join us next.