College Football Attractive Teams To SEC and Big Ten (Hour 3)

And away we go, rock and roll, and now we're number three of our radio program. It is the Zach Gelb show, Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. Let's go out to the guest line right now, and my next guest, everywhere he goes, he is just absolutely elite, whether that was as a baseball player or a wide receiver at Sioux Falls, then becoming the head coach of Sioux Falls, dominating championship after championship, and then he's had a great run at Fresno State and an even better run at Washington. In the first two years on the job, only two losses, and now is one of the four teams remaining in the semi-final of the college football playoff, where on New Year's Day, his Washington Huskies squad will go up against Texas, and the winner will go to the national championship game.

He is Kalen DeBoer. Coach, congratulations, always appreciate the time. How you doing? Yeah, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on the show.

Well, thanks so much for coming on. So I know it's been a little bit since the Pac-12 championship game, and that was a wonderful performance by your team, but just to now have it sink in and knowing right around the corner is the semi-final, just what's going through your mind right now as you guys get ready to go play for a spot in the national championship game? Yeah, we're just taking it day by day, you know, and the coaching staff's got a lot going on. You know, there's two weeks of recruiting and signing day, you know, trying to get the home visits in. There's maybe a few that are, you know, job opportunities that are out there for your staff, and then, you know, getting a chance to have the prep for Texas and the semi-final game. It's a lot, but our staff's done a great job handling. Our guys have done a great job. They're done with school now, with finals, and ready to go attack, you know, the game plan and put some practices together.

So, we're excited. When you were walking off that field in Vegas, and you won the Pac-12 championship game, and you know you're going to the college football playoff, just what did really come to mind in that moment? Because I sensed a lot of aggressiveness from your team right at the jump, that they were a little bit tired, even though Oregon had a wonderful season, just how much praise Oregon was getting going into that game compared to your team. Yeah, I mean, we knew we had a great opponent that we were playing in that game, and they had played some great football. Really, I think, you know, the game we had played earlier against them and come out on the right end here at Husky Stadium probably really motivated them. As the year went on, they were playing great football. We were playing great football and just knew that this was going to be a game that we had to have if we wanted to get to the semi-finals and make the college football playoff. And I'm just proud of our guys. I think you're asking what I was thinking walking off the field, just proud of the way we attack things. I think it's never, you know, to where we feel like we have any regrets because of how we go about our business. Just the guys do the work each and every day.

They prepare as good as any group I've ever been around. Our chemistry, just togetherness, it's above and beyond anything I've seen. So, we enjoy the moments we're in, but we never take it for granted. We don't take it for granted, especially what the work is that it takes to get to this point. I'm reminding the guys every day, you know, how we got here. How we got to 11-2 last year.

How we got to being 12-0 and then winning a Pac-12 championship. It took a lot of work, and that's what it's going to take here to get this next win as well. You know, it's really wild, Coach, because like I said, everywhere you've gone, you've won. You've had a lot of success.

You don't lose a lot. But these last two years, you know, had a big-time job trying to bring back Washington. You're in the Pac-12 to only have two losses, and both those games be less by eight points. It's just remarkable what you guys have been able to do in such a short amount of time at Washington. Yeah, it's a credit to our staff. It's a credit to the players just for opening their arms to us when we got here. You know, I always tell them we chose them. Maybe, you know, really the players didn't choose us. Some guys maybe had transferred in and young guys coming in that we've recruited.

But for the most part, most of this team didn't get to choose who was coming in from my standpoint or the staff. But they did open their arms, and it didn't take long for them to just really, you know, be okay with everything we wanted to do philosophically, whether it be skiing, culturally. And they've embraced it, and it's been a fun ride. I think, you know, they're, I think, appreciative of what we've established here and proud of it as well.

So it's been two years full of a lot of great moments, and, you know, it always comes down to the work, though. Do you still feel like your program gets disrespected? You know, we were talking about the lead up to the Pac-12 championship game, and you guys are undefeated. But it still feels as if some people are trying to take away from what you guys have accomplished when you look at, like, a margin of victory down the stretch of the season. Like, I thought a lot of the conversation was a little bit laughable at times about your program.

Oh, yeah. I mean, I think you're always going to have people, right, that have some type of doubt, or their job is to be critical of the areas that you can be better at, you know. And I think the thing, there's a lot of people that do see us for who we are, and the areas that we excelled in from the beginning, and then areas where we've continued to improve and adjust and evolve. And, you know, I think we are a complete team. I think that both sides of the ball have won games for us, and in special teams as well, have done some big things and big moments. So I think we're a complete team. I do know that no matter what's been thrown our way, and however we've won, the team aspect has always been what matters most. You know, one side of the ball doesn't look at the other and be like, man, you know, what's going on there? You know, and then the next game, it's the other way. And we've played complete games, you know, especially recently in playing our best ball, and a lot of it has to do with, you know, the health of our team, you know, getting stronger and stronger here, especially in the last couple weeks.

So this little break is good for us. We're excited about where we're at and getting some of these guys back, you know, for the semis. Well, from start to finish, Kaitlin DeBoer, and I remember talking to you in the summer where everyone wants to talk about your offense with the way that they looked on paper, and you were like, no, the defense is coming along and the defense is playing well.

We've really seen that down the stretch. How have you seen your defense get better from start to finish specifically? Yeah, I think we last year were pretty good against the run, but, you know, we struggled against the pass at times against certain teams. And this year in the league, you are going to be tested every single week with the quarterback play and the skill that was just on every team throughout the Pac-12.

And so I'm really proud of the way that they – we really, you know, learned who we were. We moved a few guys around, some guys from nickel to safety, like a Dom Hampton, from corner to nickel, like Amish Powell, and the rest of them just kind of stayed the course. And, you know, they've, you know, had times where they shut teams down, an Arizona State game where we had the interception for a touchdown that really kind of kick-started, you know, the fourth quarter run we had there to win that game.

But, you know, they just stayed the course. And we've become, you know, more physical as the season went along and have been better against the run, like we were – much like we were a year ago. And I think just against the pass, we've been more consistent each and every week this season. Coach Kalen DeBoer here with us in the Zach Gelb show. I didn't think it was possible for me to love your quarterback any more than I already did. But at the Heisman Trophy when I was covering it and I see him open up his suit jacket and he has the teammates of – the names of all of his teammates, that was just wonderful.

And you have to love that as a coach. Yeah, he's full of surprises, you know. He really – the cool thing about Michael, and I get the chance to be around him every day, it's genuine, it's who he is. And so, you know, no one really knew about him doing that, even his family.

I certainly didn't. Whoever helped him get the jacket, you know, obviously did. But he's just so thoughtful that way and it just shows that it matters to him and I can tell it matters to him every day in practice. He's so appreciative and grateful of the moment he's in now and then especially the people that are around him that are helping him get to this point and continue to help me push to be better. It's just really cool seeing him and he's really grown as a leader. He'll get in there when we're in the midst of the fire and he'll lead the team and our guys really appreciate, you know, what he's all done, not just production-wise but leadership-wise as well. And the thing that stands out to me the most, and I know it's not easy, but it's his mental toughness with all the injuries that he's suffered to get this final opportunity at Washington and do what he did the last two years when so many people were counting him out.

It's really a wonderful story. And I think it's what really comes through, I think, when those moments in a game happen where, you know, adversity hits and things aren't going your way, I think he's translated that over to his play. And yet, you know, the opponent stores and takes the lead, no regrets, no woulda, coulda, shoulda, just worried about the next moment and the things he can control. And, you know, a lot of times he's responded with drives and our offense is scoring again to get us back the lead. He's just done that time and time again, not just this year but even last year. And I think a lot of it is just a testament to what he's been through in life and with all those injuries.

And he's just been able to really compartmentalize how to respond when different things do pop up. I know you're focused on Texas, but he's going to have an NFL future. Let's just say I'm an NFL GM and I call you up and I go, Kalen DeBoer, I'm thinking about using an early first round pick on Michael Penix Jr., why should I use it? Sell me on your quarterback. Yeah, I think he makes all the throws from an arm talent standpoint. I mean, he throws a ball and he can throw it wherever he wants, as far down the field. He can throw it from college hash, which is not like an NFL hash, to the opposite sideline, on a line. And I think he throws a really catchable ball.

I think that's the thing. The receivers just get these balls that are nice. When he can put some touch on it, he will.

It's catchable. The ball placement is elite. He processes things very quickly. He'll stand in the pocket and make that throw when he needs to, but is also a great athlete and get out and run. And then just the way his football IQ, just the ability to check protections and correspond maybe blitzes and blitz patterns to coverages.

It just flows really fast for him. He's taken a lot of reps at a high college level, and I think all that's applicable to be able to make that transition to the next level. When they announced that Jaden Daniels won the Heisman, obviously it's nothing against Jaden, but there has to be natural disappointment because you wanted your guy to win the award. What was going through your thought process when you found out at the ceremony that he didn't win the award?

Yeah, certainly. I mean, you're happy for Jaden, and he had a great season and is a great football player, yeah, selfishly. Yeah, you look at what Michael did, and I think for us, we know that he won some games with some big throws and some big drives in the biggest moments, the Pac-12 championship, the Oregon game early in the season, Oregon State finishing the game off when he needed to with some throws on third down, and you're trying to figure out should you run or pass.

I mean, you can go on and on. The response in the Utah game in the first half where it was kind of a shootout and just back and forth, I mean, you can go on and on. And he just made those big plays in the big games, and I think, I guess, if you're asking what my thoughts were, I just still was proud, just proud of how far he's come, just how well he represents himself, his family, myself, our football program, our community, all the alumni. I mean, we're so proud of them just because he's first class in everything he does. When we get to the future, you know, in that quarterback room, you have Austin Mack, you added in Will Rogers. Just how about them, both what Will could bring to the program and where Austin is at from a developmental standpoint? Yeah, Will coming in has played a lot of snaps, you know, got over, I think, 1,000 completions in his career, which is a lot, and, you know, I don't think he's going to be overwhelmed by big stadiums full of a lot of people and, you know, going to lead in a way just based on what he's done in the past where it's going to be done, you know, the way you want. You know, he'll incorporate himself into this team and just a lot of confidence that way, very accurate passer, a lot of experience. Austin Mack is an elite talent for us.

We're super excited. He's still young, but he got a chance for a whole year now to see really what it takes to win a championship through Michael, you know, and the other quarterbacks, Dylan Morris, too, just the daily discipline that it takes to be elite. You know, just he's seen it. You know, I think that that's important.

You don't know what you don't know sometimes, and he's been front and center sitting in this room with Coach Grubb and Michael Pettix taking it all in here for the last few months. You know, the transfer portal has its positives and its negatives. I'm just wondering, as a coach, is it tougher to now develop players with that thought that they, you know, could easily go into the transfer portal if they think it's not going at the rate that they wanted it to go? Well, I think that's our job is just continue to focus on the roster you have and bring the best out of them, make, you know, help them enjoy this experience that they have playing college football.

That will never change. That's our job. And, you know, those guys will hopefully, you know, develop and grow and know that that's what one of the attributes of being here at UW is with this staff and decide to stay the course and just continue to play football here as a Husky. But, yeah, I mean, I think getting guys to plug in and play some areas where maybe you're a little short-handed or need a guy, you know, that's one of the pieces, I think, that the portal does allow. And, I mean, let's face it, right? I mean, you know, I ended up here one way or another, right?

I mean, technically, I guess I ended the portal, too, right? And so things change for these guys. When a coach leaves or other players come in, you know, that's kind of, you know, again, this time that they're in college football, it comes and goes really quick.

And you just hope that they all have this great experience playing the game that they love. If I would have told you when you got the job, Kalen DeBoer, that your second year on the job, you'd be playing for a national championship and you would be in the Final Four of the college football playoff, what would you have told me? Do you believe that success could happen that quickly at Washington?

Yeah, I mean, I've really never... It's never been about getting to a certain point in a timeline. I mean, I think just more than anything, it's about putting the pedal down and going as hard as you can and knowing that anything's possible. Last year, not this season, but a year ago, our theme was no limits and not letting people pre-season during the season, not letting them decide on what we were capable of. And I think we exceeded even last year people's expectations. I've learned at different places, being fortunate enough to be with other coaches and one who would be Fresno State, just, you know, they were 1 and 11 before we got there and the next season we went 10 and 4, went to a conference championship and went 12 and 2 the year after, won two Power Five games, won a conference championship. So anything can happen really quick if you just get the right people around you from a staff standpoint, build around, you know, the players and the personnel. Obviously, a quarterback's critical. I think, you know, having some line play, that strong offense and defensive line is critical. And so anything's possible, though.

And so I wouldn't have been like just, you know, completely thrown off if that was the case, if you had told me that. But I'm certainly happy that we've come this far, you know, this quickly. Has it really sunk in yet that coming up on New Year's Day, you guys are going up against Texas with the spot of the national championship game on the line? Yeah, I think so.

I really, I do. I think we have. I think that this is something that was a goal of ours at the beginning of the season. There were guys that, you know, pass on going on to the NFL to stick around and, you know, do something like this, win a conference championship.

And the cool thing is the guys never got ahead of themselves. It was always about focusing on the now and let the results take care of themselves. But there was this vibe, this vision that our guys had. And so, you know, I think it has set in because this is where we wanted to be, you know, and what we've been working hard to be, to do. And we know this program is capable of this from the beginning, and here we are. Last thing I'll ask you, Kalen DeBoer, when you take a look at Texas, we all know how good of a program they have and the job SARC's doing and who the quarterback is with Quinn Ewers.

What is really jumping off the page of you when you get in your preparation for them? Yeah, I mean, they're so well coached all around and, you know, we played them a year ago and they're just a different team. I think we are, too. But they're just a different team. You can tell the growth has continued to happen, the belief, the physicality. Just everyone seemed to be moving around a little faster and a little bigger. Some nice additions, you know, to the team are guys that have stepped up and playing better than even a year ago because of the experience now that they've gained. So, physicality, you know, especially up front. And I guess the whole team physically, they just do a nice job.

You can tell, like, the chemistry and just the culture is headed in the right direction. Coach SARC's done an amazing job there in the last three years. Well, Coach, happy holidays. Good luck and thank you so much for always joining us here on CBS Sports Radio. We really do appreciate it. You bet. My pleasure.

Thanks for having me. There you go. Coach Kalen DeBoer of the Washington Huskies. What a wonderful story that has been and his team has an opportunity to punch a ticket to the national title game if they're able to take care of business up against Texas. And I think that game is going to be high scoring. You know, I think Alabama, Michigan, the winner's going to be, like, 23-20. It's going to be that close game like that. I think this one we can get some points, like, 34-31, you know, maybe even, like, a 41-42-35 kind of realm of game. I expect there to be a lot of points between Washington and Texas. All right, this is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We will take a break. We'll come on back and we'll talk about the future landscape of college football as well.

How many brands that are not in the Big Ten or the SEC are still attractive to maybe join one of those conferences in future years? Well, well, well, shopping for a car? Yep. Carvana made financing a car as smooth as can be.

Oh, yeah? I got pre-qualified instantly and had real terms personalized just for me. Doesn't get much smoother than that. Well, I got to browse thousands of car options on Carvana, all within my budget. Doesn't get much smoother than that. It does. I actually wanted a car that seemed out of my range, but I was able to add a co-signer and found my dream car.

It doesn't get much... Oh, it gets smoother. It's getting delivered tomorrow. Visit Carvana.com or download the app to get pre-qualified today. You can stream the NFL and Westwood One for free, sponsored by AutoZone all season long. You can listen to every Westwood One broadcast of the NFL Live on the NFL app by asking Alexa to open Westwood One Sports or on the Odyssey app. Get in the zone, AutoZone.

AutoZone's free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local AutoZone. Get in the zone, AutoZone. Restrictions. Apply. I kind of like this beat still. Can you bump this a little bit? All righty. I feel like I'm ready to go out to a club. Do a little fist-pumping. Maybe we'll blow off dinner tonight, guys. I'm going to go out clubbing in New York City. Samter, he has immaculate club vibes.

You know, he could be Jersey Shore a little bit. Oh, come on. Let's get a camera on Samter right now. You could probably stop the sound effects, but I did appreciate the fist-pumping that you did. You're a good fist-pumper. Back in your day, you must have been an elite fist-pumper down in the club. Hey, listen. We had Mike The Situation on not long ago.

He taught me everything I need to know. Yeah, one more time. Do a little fist-pump for the camera so they could just see. See, now you messed it up. With the music, it looked good. You were in sync.

Then you looked just all out of rhythm right now. You've got to stop with the sound effects. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb showing CBS Sports Radio. This would actually be the perfect time to play the Jason Kelsey and Travis Kelsey audio. So what's the background behind this, Samter, before we play it? So obviously the New Heights podcast is amazing.

And it's Jason and Travis Kelsey together. And I guess they take questions from listeners or viewers. So they got asked a question from somebody on Twitter. Why do NFL players allow the staff to squirt them with water or Gatorade and not squirt it for themselves? And then this was kind of their answer. So a team trainer runs onto the field and squirts those guys with some water.

Make sure you get it right in the mouth. You know, there's a lot of drops that could probably be used right here. But that's what usually happens when you watch a football game and there's a timeout or a stoppage in play or even on the sideline. There's some squirting that also goes on on the sideline.

Here is Jason and Travis Kelsey. Why don't players squirt their own water? Hey, that is such a good question. You kind of just know when somebody reaches up to squirt you to open up your mouth. Squirt, yeah. And you just get squirted. They don't have to do the squirting. You can do the squirting sometimes. But, you know, when you develop a relationship, you just know when you're about to get squirted on.

You develop the relationship. Yeah. You don't want to just be letting Rando squirt on you. I'll let a teammate squirt me sometimes. That's just a good teammate.

Yeah. I'll squirt. I'll squirt you guys if you need one. I'm trainer Trav, man. Trainer Trav.

Sometimes they don't screw the lids on all the way. I open my mouth to accept your squirt and you dumped it all down my chest. Wow. That's some interesting audio there.

And that's the abridged version. It got even crazier. It was like two minutes of them just going off on the squirting. Yeah, I could imagine. I guess it just comes down to people like being pampered. Like, that's what it is. For example, if you want to do a service for me and you want to squirt water into my mouth and I don't have to physically pick up the water bottle and drink the water myself, yeah, I'm good with that. And also, like, in a shorter timeout when it's kind of quick on and off, I mean, do the guys want to reach into the pail, grab a water bottle, do... A guy's just walking around, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

You can get like ten guys at once. But here's the other question, right? Like, I'm listening to them, right? Yeah, I know. That came off bad, too. Geez. Are you getting tired of the Kelsey schtick?

No. Or do you just find them, like, awesome and hilarious? So I listen to New Heights before everyone else listens to New Heights. Like, I wouldn't listen to the entirety of the episode, but I would listen to some social media clips and then click the link and then watch, like, a little bit of the episode. But now, like, they had a very successful and popular podcast before Taylor Swift. But now having the Swifties involved, that takes them all the way up the charts to, like, number one or number two, whatever they rank in the podcasting world, right at the top. So I think there are some people that originally liked the show and liked Jason Kelsey and Travis Kelsey, and now it's like, oh, I liked them when it wasn't necessarily cool and popular to like them.

Not that it was ever uncool or unpopular to like them, but now since everyone else is getting involved into the party, that's where some fatigue may happen. But I'm a huge fan of Jason Kelsey, and I've always thought Travis Kelsey to be extremely entertaining and someone that's just easy to root for, regardless if he's on your team or not. And I actually... I interviewed him at a Super Bowl in Atlanta.

That was the Patriot Ram Super Bowl, the second one, the 13-3 game. And he told me this story, and I said to him, I go, you have to have an all-time great, like, brother fight story with Jason. And they talked about how Mom was making dinner once, and they got into a little kerfuffle, and one of them got thrown through the oven. Like, the fight got so violent and so, like, back and forth between brothers, one crashed into the oven, and the oven absolutely broke when Mom was just trying to make some dinner.

Poor Donna. I don't know, listen, I love the Kelseys. I find them to be funny. I love Jason when they won that first Super Bowl, and he's, you know, he's hilarious.

The whole damn team! Yeah, and he was really funny five years ago, and I still find them funny. But sometimes, right, there's guys who, like, like, these guys are both naturally funny and they have great chemistry, but, like, sometimes, lately, maybe it's because of the Taylor Swift stuff and they're trying to, like, play it up a little bit. It feels like they're trying too hard to be funny. It feels like they're trying too hard to, like, keep up that, like, that persona.

I don't think that's the case, because this is who they've always been. I just feel as if now there's a heightened awareness to it because it's getting shoved down your throat more. I'm just saying, for me, individually, I've been listening through the... New Heights?

New Heights podcast for quite a while. Do we need to squirt some water down your throat now? All over my chest. Calm down. We're on the afternoons. It's not a night show anymore. Take it easy.

Just make sure you screw the top on tight. No, I've been listening to them, too, so I'm just saying, for me, I'm not saying it for anybody else. Just for me, I used to find them so funny because they were just naturally funny.

Okay. Now, when I listen to them, it feels like they're trying so hard because they've skyrocketed up this, you know, perception area, and their cue rating is so high that they're trying so hard to keep up that persona and it's almost like they're trying too hard now. Well, you know what they're both trying to do, and they don't need to really try anymore because if you lived in Philadelphia and you knew Jason Kelce before this, everyone knew he would eventually one day be very successful in the media just by listening to his weekly interview that he does on WIP for years, and I really do believe this is Jason Kelce's last season. I would be absolutely shocked if Jason Kelce is playing football next year. I think he is retiring after this season and I wouldn't be surprised if Travis Kelce isn't that far behind him. You know, I think now we get accustomed to guys, we think that they're gonna play for years and years and years, and Travis Kelce's still a very good football player, but you're starting to see some signs of decline as well.

I think with their popularity and they've already had so much success before this, but now it's getting taken to a new height, let's just say. I do believe that this is Jason's final season and that he'll go on to have a very successful media career and remember the position that he plays and how many hits to the head that he has taken as well, and I don't think, like, if you ask me in over-under right now with three more years of Travis Kelce playing football, I would take the under two. I could see him playing next year, winning another Super Bowl, and then riding off into the sunset. Like, I really do believe the next Super Bowl Travis Kelce wins, he's gonna walk away from the game. So when you have all these opportunities and these moments and this popularity, you start to think about setting yourself up for the next chapter.

Anyway, real quickly, because I've been teasing this for a while and I've got to get to it. For the future of college football, I've made this point a ton. I just want to reiterate it. With Florida State wanting out of the ACC and you'll have a money fight and a legal fight coming around the corner, Florida State is deserving of going to the Big Ten of the SEC. I think they're a better fit for the SEC.

But I think what a lot of people lose sight on when we have these conversations of, we should just go to a 64-team conference and just have everyone operate. It's the haves and the have-nots and that should be the future of college football. With how much money the Big Ten and the SEC make and how much money they make from a TV part of it in this current system, why would they conform to that?

And also, don't think just because a lot of teams recently have shifted conference and we've seen teams join the SEC and see teams join the Big Ten, that everyone else is going to get an invite. Because there's not that many elite brands left in college football if you're not already in the Big Ten or the SEC. Like Notre Dame, right? That's the top one out of all the teams that aren't in the Big Ten or the SEC and they're independent. And Notre Dame right now is fine without joining a conference because they like operating on their own.

They make a ton of money even though they can make more money if they joined the SEC or the Big Ten. But Notre Dame is an elite brand. I think Florida State is a very, very, very good brand.

Also, you could say a great brand. And there will be a landing spot for them. You know, you look at Clemson, I do think, because these usually happen in pairs when you have teams jump, I think Danny Cannell is right, that if Florida State leaves, then Clemson will follow them and they'll get a spot. But I don't know what Clemson's going to look like moving forward. You know, from a football standpoint, they have not met the Clemson standard the last two or three seasons, even with winning an ACC championship, not this year, but the year before that.

And what's life going to look like for them without Dabo, sweetie? And Miami, you know, it's still a good brand. You know, there could be a spot at the ACC falls for them, but Miami hasn't been great in a long time. And then you have Duke and UNC who are interesting. And I think we all believe like their basketball programs make more money than the football program. The football programs actually make more money than the basketball programs. If you go and look at the breakdown, but the basketball programs are still extremely profitable. So I think somewhere Duke or UNC would have a place, I don't think in the ACC, if it's going to be somewhere, it would be in the Big Ten. But outside of that, if you're not a Big Ten or SEC school right now, and you look at trying to join, you know, Notre Dame is number one, then it's probably Florida State too, lumped in with Clemson, and then Miami, UNC and Duke are kind of all in the same playing field.

But after that, for the schools that have not joined the Big Ten or the SEC already, I don't think the brands in college football are as attractive as what others do when talking about the idea of the Big Ten or the SEC potentially joining you down the road or you joining them down the road. It is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll come on back. The 49ers or the field to win the Super Bowl will also give you a little thought or two on the Thursday Night Football game that will come your way later tonight. Update time first though. Here's El Capitan Marco Belletti. Today's memorable moment is sponsored by Prevagen.

Prevagen is the most recommended memory support brand by pharmacists. The last time the Rams and Saints squared off was in week 11 of last season. New Orleans was down 14 to 10 at halftime, but scored 17 second half points to win 27 to 20.

The Red Rifle, Andy Dalton, he completed 21 to 25 passes for 260 yards and three passing touchdowns and no interceptions. The Rams lead the all-time series though 43 to 35. Whenever I think of this game, it's impossible to not think about the NFC title game between the Saints and the Rams where you had the play that should have been a penalty that wasn't a penalty and then the game goes into overtime. And people forget the Drew Brees interception in overtime, right?

Like, because Saints fans deservedly so were so irate about the flag not being thrown. You still got into overtime and Drew Brees threw an interception. And then you had the game-winning kick to send the Rams to the Super Bowl before they lost two weeks later up against the Patriots. So for the game tonight, I don't know about you guys. Like, Stu, this is a game Rams and Saints that has playoff implications. Like, the Saints to continue pace and try to win the NFC South or if they don't win the NFC South and let's say the Bucks get the better part of them down the stretch, well, at least to be a wildcard team in the Rams, they are probably like the quietest, hottest team in the league right now because they got off to that bad start, they had all the injuries, but now they have a good chance to make the postseason.

But I don't know about you guys, I feel as if there is zero juice for this game tonight. For the Saints, I'm like a big, passionate fan base. The Rams, all right, it's, you know, you're in L.A. now, back once again, you won a Super Bowl, but it doesn't seem like there's as much fanfare, you know, around the Rams as you would expect for a normal NFL team. But really, for this game, even though neither of these teams are great and maybe it's a product of mediocrity, I have not hurt anybody. You know, we just did a national radio show for two hours and 40, 45 minutes. And we didn't even mention that, oh, yeah, you got this game tonight, Rams and Saints.

There is zero buzz, zero juice for this one. Yeah, you're right, there really is. And it's crazy because it's like two quarterbacks also that have had, you know, at least a little bit of success in their past. It's not like it's two backups. We've seen a lot of games just here where it's, you know, backup quarterbacks and guys you don't want to see. Yeah, it's actually not the worst game. We've had some really bad Monday and Thursday games that are just completely unwatchable, but I don't think this is one of them.

This is actually a pretty decent game. And the Rams are a four-point favorite. I don't get how either of these teams are favored, would be favored by four points or more. So just by saying that, I think a lot of people are going to plus the points and I will, you know, I'll lay the four points with the Rams. And also I don't want to root for, like I like the Saints, but I can't root for Derek Carr. I just can't anymore. I'm sick of the Derek Carr story.

It's always woe is me. Anytime he looks like he's about to be a top 10 quarterback, he doesn't just stumble at the bar. He falls down, face plants, and he moves so far away from being a top 10 quarterback. I also saw some stats that his brother was pumping out the other day, David Carr, and I don't like what he said about benching Jalen Hurts to go play Marcus Mariota. So I'll root for Pukunakua, Cooper Cup tonight, Rams laying four, but I will sprinkle a little money on anytime touchdown Chris Olave. It makes no sense to me how that number is at plus 220. It may be too good to be true, but I did sprinkle some money earlier before the show did start on Chris Olave at plus 220.

855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. Let's go to Mo in San Diego, wants to chime in on the conference football talk in college football. Mo, what's going on? What's up, brother? It's been a while, but good to talk to you and hope you have a happy holidays.

You too. So I was just talking about that you were talking about the whole situation with Florida State they want to get out of the ACC and all this other stuff and Clemson comes behind them and stuff like this. The defection of the ACC and going into the other conference.

But my question is this, why do you want to do it now? If you're Florida State, if you had gone undefeated like you did this year, going into the 12 team playoff, 100 out of 100 times you're going to make the playoff. As a matter of fact, we could argue that Florida State does the same exact thing this year in the same situation next year. They would even be in the top four because the committee would say, why would we need to take Florida State out of the top four when Alabama's still getting in?

We don't have to sue anyone over. We'll keep them in the top four anyway. Why would you leave and go to a conference where you got to fight with all those schools if you can just get the top two in the ACC?

You'll probably get in every year. So you're coming from a football logical standpoint. It's also why I don't think Oklahoma or Texas should leave from the Big 12 to go to the SEC. It's like, why would you do that now?

But Mo, even though you're making sense, it's all about the sense. It's all about the money. And that's why they would go because Florida State can make a lot more money in the SEC. And I thought it would be impossible for them to leave because they have that deal with the ACC until 2036, I believe it is. And they have to pay $150 million to leave. And then they'd also have to buy out their TV rights. But we had Chip Patterson on the other day, and he said that there's a legal way to get out of it where they could go, leave the conference, fight it out legally, and not take any TV money from the SEC or the Big 10 and then maybe get a signing bonus, you know, wink, wink, when they join to get all that cash that would have transpired. So it's purely based off money and to no surprise, money, I don't want to say it's ruined college athletics how we've known it, but it's totally changed college athletics because what doesn't make sense from playing or from a geography standpoint, and like you're right, a lot of people go, what the heck is going on? You just made the road tougher for yourself.

A lot of these schools only care about the money. Well, you know, am I still on? Yeah. You hear me?

Yeah, I got your mic. Okay, well, you know, I'm a former college athlete, college football player, so you know this is near and dear to me and stuff, but it's just as ironic that the schools talk about not wanting the students to make the student athletes to make any money. At the same time, they are in an absolute dash to make as much as possible. Well, welcome to the hypocrisy of the NCAA, Mo. Oh, my God. You know, that's why I actually appreciate when Kalen DeBoer joined us and I asked him about the transfer portal and managing it, he goes, you know, I technically went in the transfer portal too.

I left one job and went to another. I appreciated Kalen DeBoer and he joined us earlier in the show that he admitted that. Yeah, it's the reality of it. Here's the thing with Florida State, and just to close this out and I'll let you go.

Yeah. If they do that, somehow they force their way out. They lose all of that money with the TV rights until they can get back and kind of get back around on it, you know, based on the wink-wink deal or whatever. But at the same time, they may struggle to get to the playoffs each year and then their program could actually go further down because every year they're fighting with the SEC schools just to get in. Like, that's not good for them. No, I totally understand what you're saying, Mo, but they were thinking about leaving earlier because they wanted a bigger share of the pie because they're a huge part of the ACC. It's them and Clemson pretty much.

And now when you factor in that they just went undefeated and didn't get into a four-team playoff, even though it goes to 12 next year, it's just more and more and more of them trying to push out of the ACC and more arguments to be made to go get more money and join the SEC. I'll give you an update on the poll question. We'll do more of this tomorrow. It's at CBS Sports Radio. If you were picking Super Bowl champion this year, are you going the 49ers or the field? Right now, 57.3% say the field. 42.7% say the 49ers.

9.9 times out of 10, just a general rule of thumb for people that are new to this show. If you ask me, so-and-so or the field, in a single-elimination sport, 9.9 times out of 10 I would take the field. But in this case, with what I've seen to the first 15 weeks of the season, I can't give you an argument to say that I would go the field here.

I would go with the San Francisco 49ers. We'll delve into that more coming up tomorrow. This is the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. Big Football Friday, Channing Crowder will join us tomorrow to preview the Cowboys and Dolphins game. Last time he joined me on CBS Sports Radio, he trashed Zach Prescott and made a whole lot of Cowboys fans angry in the thing that, like, over a million views. So we'll get his thoughts on what Zach Prescott is going to do this weekend up against his Miami Dolphins tomorrow.