12-Team College Football Playoff WILL WORK (Hour 1)

Live from the play show, yet not overly ostentatious, studios of the Infinity Sports Network here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to what is a very busy Wednesday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local Infinity Sports Network affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, the free Odyssey app, and of course streaming live on YouTube. Please join me in thanking our host, Braden Fisk, the young defensive lineman for the LA Rams, at two sacks in their victory up against the Seattle Seahawks. He's going to stop by an hour 20 from now at 4.20 pm Eastern, 1.20 pm Pacific, and then we will move hot take hickey, Ryan hot take hickey, to 5 pm Eastern time, 2 pm Pacific time.

Today in his weekly spot, as he will finally have to answer for his embarrassing college football team that once again in a big spot came up extremely small. And let me just say this, lot going on in the world last night, right? You had the presidential election, and I'm sure that is what everyone was sitting on the edge of their seat about.

Not really the college football playoff ranking, but we are a sports show. There's things I could say about the election, but I'm not going to, but Donald Trump obviously has won. And there's nothing negative for me on the election, but you could sit there and you could talk about it, and then guess what's going to happen when you're on a national show.

You know, 50% of the listeners will be like, yeah Gelb, 50% of the people will be like, I hate you Gelb, even though I'm pretty much down the middle when it comes to politics. But as we were awaiting for, I guess, the appetizer tonight, and the appetizer was going to be the college football playoff, and then you knew the election was going to be the main course. I was waiting to see what the bracket would look like.

And yesterday when I got off the air, right as I was getting off the air, Samter got in my ear and he was like, hey, you should probably put out like a bracket. You should probably tell me who your top 12 teams are going to be. So I sat here on the air yesterday and I said Oregon 1, Georgia 2, Miami 3, BYU 4. I had Ohio State 5, then yesterday Texas 6.

I think I had Tennessee 7, Penn State 8, Indiana 9, Notre Dame 10, Alabama 11, and Boise State 12. And that's what I just did on a quick hot take. But then I made my 30 minute walk home, and on my 30 minute walk home I was like, hmm, I may have just been too premature on the rankings of two teams that I may want to swap. So I took my 30 minute walk home, got into my apartment, and I had to change into something else because I was going to a big steak dinner last night in New York City, which is absolutely delicious. And I said, you know what, I will put out what I think the college football playoff committee is going to do.

And I made one slight alteration. I bumped Penn State up to 7, and I moved Tennessee back to 8. And I put out a tweet, this was at like 6.58, 6.59, 7 o'clock, right before ESPN came on the screen and they were doing the college football playoff ranking reveal, which I will give them credit. I thought in a confusing spot, they actually did a good job, because I said this from the jump, the rankings 1 through 25, you can't just necessarily take who the top 12 teams are and line them up 1 through 12. And I had a friend yesterday when I put out this tweet, go, how do you have BYU ranked fourth in the country? And I go, it's not me ranking them fourth in the country, it's if you're understanding of the rules, the simple rules.

And it's amazing how people can be these big time college football fans, and I see them tweet up a storm, and then they have no clue how the system works. Yes, you have to be a top 12 team to get in, but there is a chance you could be a top 12 team in the ranking and not get in depending on how we rank the conference champions, because the five highest ranked conference champions get an automatic spot into the college football playoff. And the top four seeds are the four highest ranked college football playoff teams.

You know, that's the spot to get in. So BYU could be ranked ninth, but since right now they would win the big 12, and they would be the fourth highest ranked conference champ, that's why they get the four seed and the four highest ranked conference champs get byes. So that's something when you're doing the rankings and you got to give 25 through one first, but you also have to immediately put up a bracket. And I thought ESPN did a good job last night giving the rankings and then putting the bracket up and then also saying, hey, this is where their seed is, which it does matter. Because like, for example, BYU last night, even though they haven't had a loss yet and they would be the fourth seed, them being the ninth seed kind of shows you that if they don't win their conference championship, it's going to be very tough for them to get in the college football playoff. And this is something that I thought of, you know, if a school like BYU who's in the big 12, if they are undefeated heading into their conference championship game, and right now they are 8-0, if they lose by like a field goal or by seven in their conference championship game, does that open up a path for a one loss BYU, even though currently they're ranked ninth and they would fall back, to then send two big 12 teams or if it happened in the ACC, two ACC teams? It really doesn't apply for the SEC or the big 10 because you know there's going to be multiple SEC and big 10 teams in.

So those are things that you just got to monitor. But here is why, by the way, I'm actually going to take back a statement that I've given for years, because for years I used to say on this network, I thought the most passionate and knowledgeable person, you know, Monday through Sunday on this network talking college football, I've actually said before it's hot take kicky. I am putting hot take kicky now in those depth chart rankings in at number two. And here's why. You can't have back to back years where hot take kicky tells me things are going to happen with Penn State defeating Ohio State and neither are true. You know, the take from hot take kicky last week was the weakest unit on the field in that battle, Ohio State and Penn State, is going to be Ohio State's offensive line, even with that makeshift offensive line, the unit looked pretty damn strong for Ohio State.

So that's not the only demerit that moves hickey down to two. But as I told you, on my walk home, I said, let me really think what the committee is going to do. And not only am I going to call myself the most knowledgeable, entertaining and passionate person on this network when it comes to talking college football, I will also say that if the NCAA is smart, and if college football is smart, they would actually beg for me to resign my position as the talk show host of the three to six p.m. Eastern Time slot here on the Infinity Sports Network and have me run their college football playoff rankings. And who's ever in charge of it right now, I guarantee you, I'll be cheaper. I will be cheaper to afford than whatever crazy salary you're paying right now, or whatever committee that you have assembled together. Because I nailed the bracket twelve for twelve with that tweet that I put out there. I felt like I was like Joe Lenardi with Bracketology.

You know, I'll put initial one out there, but then I'll fine tune it. And with the one change I made, I nailed it. So I'm going to pat myself on the back.

And I never pat myself on the back on this show. But I had Oregon one, Georgia two, Miami three, BYU four receiving buys, and then I nailed the four first round matchups, Boise State at Ohio State, Alabama at Texas, Notre Dame at Penn State and Indiana at Tennessee. So now you know people listening that the most knowledgeable and also the most passionate person when it comes to talking college football on this network is me. And I don't know how much longer I will be here, because if the dopes that run the NCAA were smart or the dopes that run the college football playoff committee are smart, they'd be saying we make Zach Gelb our executive director. And I would gladly do that job.

It would be a lot of fun. Because I will say this, being a national host, and I've done local and national, my favorite part about being a national radio host is being able to talk college football. And how many schools that we get to connect with throughout the year when it comes to college and the passion and the buzz around college football is really to me, second to none. So all kidding aside, and we have fun with this, I will make two comments or maybe I'll make three comments here.

Here's the simple comment. I don't really care about the rankings as long as 1 through 12 has a spot in the playoff. I know some people would be like, Zach, that doesn't really make sense. And what I mean by that is like it doesn't bother me that BYU was ranked ninth. Like I know everyone has to have a take. I'm not going to get on the radio and bitch and complain about a team getting in and then, oh, I didn't think their ranking was fair. That just, with this concept this early on, and you still control your own destiny if you're in the initial bracket, it doesn't elicit a response where I have to sit here and go, oh, this team was ranked ninth, but they should have been ranked seventh, or the team that was ranked sixth should have been ranked eighth. I'm just not going to do that.

That's just not my type of radio. But what I will say is this, and this is a point that I've had when I first heard of this format and it was thoroughly explained to me. I don't think the conference champions need to get a bye. I don't.

And here's why I've said this. Like Boise State right now would be the fifth highest ranked conference champion. They could get a 12 seed, but if you're one of the four highest ranked conference champs, even if you're not a top four team in the nation, you get one of the top four spots. So I don't want to not value the conference champions.

I think conference champions should just get an automatic spot into the college football playoff, but I don't think they need to have one of the top four spots and get guaranteed a bye. So that was a thought that I had when I first heard about this, and it was even more of a thought that I had last night. But I think the bigger prevailing thought here, and I admit when I'm right, and I admit when I'm wrong, I'm a fan of this system.

Now, let me be abundantly clear. I always knew this system was going to work. I never said it wasn't going to work because we live in a society where we have seen people beat up women associated with football, beat up children that are associated with football, and have killed people and have done disgusting things in the world of football. But guess what happens? Each and every Saturday, each and every Sunday, even if you can't stand the players on the field, even if you can't stand the institutions, even if you can't stand the rules, like when you watch the NFL, you have no clue what's a catch or not. Guess what we do? We park our fat asses on the couch each and every Saturday, each and every Sunday, we place our bets, we make our nachos, we make our wings. You know, if you don't like a traditional wing, you have your dino nuggets. I get that. Make sure they're still with blue cheese either way, but you should be a man and have a bone-in wing, okay?

None of these dino nuggets. And you watch the games and you live and die by your teams because that's what we do. Football is like a religion in this country. So I'm not surprised that the 12 team format is going to work. All I've said from the jump is I never thought it was necessary to go to 12. And I thought moving from 4 to 12 was way too quick of an augmentation of teams.

Like if you wanted to make a move, you could have gone from 4 to 6, 4 to 8. Because outside of last year with Florida State, there was really never a year where I was like, wow, we need more than four teams. Need, not want, need more than four teams. But I will say when you get to visualize this last night and you just look at the bracket and you know Oregon has a bye, Georgia has a bye, Miami has a bye, BYU has a bye.

And then I read you the four first round matchups. There's not a matchup where I'm like, hmm, I'm not excited to see that game. Like Boise State lost to Oregon by three. Oregon beat Ohio State. So you would have Ashton Gente going to the horseshoe to do battle with Ohio State. Fun game. Alabama, Texas, now an SEC rivalry with those two enormous brands with DeBoer and Milro and obviously Sark and Quinn Ewers. Hello.

That will be ratings galore. Notre Dame at Penn State? Hmm. That's you know, I had someone text me last night, Stu. I had and you could tell I'm getting under the skin because the truth hurts. I had a graduate of Penn State University text me and go the moment when they said Notre Dame at Penn State.

I thought that is the participation bowl in the first round. And I said to him, I guess I have real estate in your head. And he goes, unfortunately, what you've said about Penn State is 1000 percent accurate. But think about that. Penn State.

Right. Never wins a big game. Notre Dame never wins a big game.

And you would have those two titans, let's say, go up against one another and clash heads. And I if there's out of these four matchups that we're seeing right now, Boise State, Ohio State, Alabama, Texas, Notre Dame at Penn State and even Indiana, Tennessee, Indiana. You could say, oh, they played nobody and they play Ohio State coming up in two weeks. They put up points, points, points, points, points and more points.

And Signeti doesn't fear anybody. And if Tennessee's offense could start playing like they did earlier in the season with Nico Iamaliava and the defense has been solid, then, man, that would be a high scoring offense a game. But out of those four matchups, too, the one I want to see the most is Notre Dame at Penn State because you're a Notre Dame fan.

Right. Hickey joins us every week as a Penn State fan. He also grew up as a Notre Dame fan and he tries to block out that Notre Dame ever existed in his life. But I think that would be fun because it would be like the Spider-Man meme on just, oh, we're the same teams. Like, we only usually lose one or two games a year, but whenever we're expected to win a game, we don't win a big game. And to see how those two teams would respond basically going up against themselves, Stu, would be highly entertaining for me. Yeah, someone would have to win, I suppose. Do you think Notre Dame would be Penn State? Do you think they would go into Happy Valley and take down the Penn State Nittany Lions if you had to make a prediction today? If I had to be right, I'd say they'd lose. Lose a close game. Hmm.

Like, I don't know. I think you guys could win. Your running back's pretty damn good. Yeah. And then Riley Leonard has played better. You know, Drew Allard's been inconsistent.

So, you know, I... It'd be close. I think it'd be really close. That to me is like a 17-16 game where Penn State scores and they're about to tie it up.

And then, like, the loser of the game misses the extra point to make it 17-16. That's how I kind of see that game playing on out. But all in all, I'm not freaking out over the rankings. I just look at the bracket and I think they got the bracket 100 percent right.

And it's usually... I'm not saying it's impossible to predict these things, but usually get a team or two wrong. The fact that I was able to do it with the matchups, you know, it shows that it is working. As someone that covers and watches college football as extensively as I do, they got the 12 teams right. And there's some things that you'll like and you'll dislike about this, but if these are the matchups on the first weekend, you know, well, it's in the middle of the week, then my oh my, for the first round, we're really in for a treat.

It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. Alrighty. I told you what the top 12 teams would be in terms of the bracket, how I thought the committee would operate. Now I will give you my top five teams in college football and my top five teams in the NFL as we got to take five Wednesday when we come on back in five minutes. As the dust settles from last week's games, it's time to look at which teams are rising and which are falling.

And there's an interception. Zach ranks his top five NFL in college football teams on this week's edition of Take Five, only on the Zach Gelb show. Alrighty, time for a little Take Five Wednesday on the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm going to do college football teams first, and I'm going to go five to one this week. I feel like in college you started to go one through five, but really, outside of the number one team, I think there is a bigger buildup this week, where in previous weeks it's really been one and two, there's been a little more clutter at the top.

And at number five, for the first time this year, if you would have told me before the start of the season that they would make one appearance in the top five this season, I would have said I must have placed a bet and made a lot of money on them, because I would have never thought in a million years that this team would be in the top five. But I am putting the Indiana Hoosiers in the top five, and here's what finally did it for me. First off, they haven't played a close game this year.

I know some of these opponents aren't great. Florida International, 31-7. Western Illinois, 77-3. UCLA, 42-13. Charlotte, 52-14. Maryland, 42-28. Northwestern, 41-24. Nebraska smacked them, 56-7. Washington, 31-17. But they put themselves in a hole right out of the gate up against Michigan State.

And I was like, uh-oh, here comes the letdown. Here comes the moment where they're down 10-0 in the first quarter to Michigan State, and it's going to be the Indiana letdown that everyone's been waiting for all year. And then they scored 47 unanswered points. That's a tough—I know Michigan State's not great.

They're not good. But that's a tough performance, and that's a heck of a response when you start off down 10-0 and then you reel off 47 unanswered. And coming up next for Indiana, you got Michigan this week, and then the following week it's a big one, Ohio State. And I don't know if they'll beat Ohio State, but I feel confident that that is going to be a game. Next up, I don't know if he's going to win the Heisman.

He will definitely be a finalist. But there is not a player maybe in college football outside of Ashton Gente that you could argue is more important to his team than Cam Ward. It's like each and every week you think Miami is going to get got, and they just don't. And they don't have a great defense, obviously. Reschepo's a really good wide receiver.

Nobody's done for that program. But the story of Cam Ward, a zero-star recruit, incarnate word where he started his career at, Washington State, and now is at Miami, he is unbelievable. And now that was a one-point game in the fourth quarter, and they were a 21-point favorite you would have never thought they were covering. Great teams cover, though.

They don't just win, they cover. And they covered that spread, winning by 22 points, so I put Miami in at number four. I did drop Georgia this week.

Not out of the top five, but I put Georgia at three. What is starting to concern me, and it has concerned me for a while, I still think they go into national championship. I still think they are so talented that they could survive even if their quarterback's not at their best. But Carson Beck has turned into a turnover machine. Now, they won in spite of their quarterback up against Florida. But jeez, way too many turnovers for the quarterback in Carson Beck. In at number two, Ohio State finally displayed a toughness that I haven't seen in a long time. Banged up offensive line, quarterback questions about him. The defense has been really damn good.

Defense makes a stop at the end. Offense behind that line and that quarterback, Will Howard, and also Junkins, they run out the clock, and they end up getting a huge victory up against Penn State. And their only loss of the season is to the number one team that I have, and that is Oregon, where Ohio State only lost to Oregon by one point. So, Stewart, Oregon in at one, Ohio State in at two, Georgia in at three, Miami in at four, and then it was like, hmm, who am I going to put five? And this week, I'm going with Indiana. What do we got?

Speak now or forever hold your peace. All right, what about the team that actually was in the top five of last night's rankings, and that is Texas. I need to see Texas in a big spot, get the job done. That performance up against Georgia, it was a tale of two halves. They got back in it for a little bit in the second half, but I got to see Texas go win a big game. And you look at the rest of their schedule, Florida, no, Arkansas, no, Kentucky, no. Even A&M after losing to South Carolina has lost a little luster. I still think Texas can be a potential national championship team. I'll get more into that later, but that performance up against Georgia when Carson Beck was not good in the game, kind of stands out to me saying, hmm, maybe Texas is just really good and they're not great. So I want to see a little bit more from the Longhorns. All right, you have three undefeated teams in your top five. Why not BYU?

It was the toughest one that I had to leave out. And when they played SMU, I don't think people realized how good SMU was because SMU was not that far out for making the college football playoff. If they win the ACC, obviously they will be in. And right now they're on a collision course to go up against Miami in the ACC. But you did have a big 12 team BYU play SMU earlier in the season. And you could tell both those teams weren't at their best. It was a sloppy 18 to 15 game that BYU did win. The Kansas State victory was very impressive as well.

I just, it was one that I only had five spots. And I think that Ohio State's better. I think Georgia's better. And I just slightly went with Miami and Indiana because of Signeti. And then also with Cam Ward just slightly over.

And I love Retzlaff and I love Kalani Satake. There's really no good reason for it. It was the sixth team that I was, they would have been the sixth spot if there was a sixth spot. And I know that they're blowing out these opponents. And you know that nice little game up against UCF with a bye week last week. It was just one of those that there's no good answer for it.

You only got five spots if I'm being honest. Alright, what about Penn State whose only loss is a close one to Ohio State? You really want me to give an explanation against this?

Sure. They're the definition of a good team, not a great team. And they showed that once again up against Ohio State when they were going up against an offensive line that was decimated with injuries. And they were up 10-0 and they choked. That offense, right, that retooled offense that we keep on hearing all about at Penn State had six points scored. And pick six. They had six points scored. So that offense only put up two field goals in the game.

That's why they're not in the top five. Alright, and last but not least, what about Tennessee who is 7-1? Good ole Rocky Tap.

Rocky Tap Tennessee. The loss to Arkansas is a bad one. That's how they did bounce back up against Alabama where they got dominated in the first half. But it was only 7-0 at halftime. But it felt like it should have been more in favor of Alabama. And then they did a really good job in the second half.

A little inconsistency from Niko Iemaliava. Got back on the right track last week up against Kentucky. They should beat Mississippi State obviously.

Tennessee absolutely positively will be back in the top five if they beat Georgia. But I'm waiting to see if they can pass the Georgia test. Because you look at it so far, their biggest test in the season so far was Alabama. They passed. I was in love with that team early on. Then they had the loss to Arkansas.

Let's just see it. They don't have to win the game up against Georgia. You know, I know that they would then be their second loss of the season. And who knows if you make the college football playoff. But a two loss Tennessee team can get in. But that will be a good test to determine if Tennessee is really a top five team in the nation if you can beat Georgia right now. Who I have ranked in at number three.

Alrighty, let's go to the NFL. All the Washington commanders do right now is win. And the commanders have been very impressive. And not only have they been impressive, but they made a little win now move at the deadline. 7-2 start. And they go on out and they do get Marshawn Lattimore. Now I know it was a close game up against the Giants, but it's divisional rival.

I know they had to get the Hail Mary up against the Bears. But this team is sitting there at 7-2 with their only two losses up against Tampa Bay in week one. And then the Baltimore Ravens back in week six. This is a football team that I don't know if they'll be in the top five at the end of the season.

They have a legitimate chance to go win the NFC East. Good test this week up against Pittsburgh and the week after that in a short week on Thursday Night Football up against the Philadelphia Eagles. But right now they are looking like a top five team with the quarterback that in eight games, or nine games, excuse me. Because they're 7-2 has totally changed the direction of that franchise. Alrighty, I will get to the Baltimore Ravens who they had three losses. I didn't like the performance up against the Browns. They blew out the Denver Broncos. But they beat Buffalo. It's like they beat the Bengals. They play the Bengals tomorrow night. They lost to Kansas City because likely couldn't get that second foot in. They beat the Cowboys. This is just a team.

That combination of Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson is absolutely lethal. So I put the Baltimore Ravens in there at number four. Three, the Bills are also 7-2. Buffalo gets a three spot.

And I look at Buffalo. That was a game up against Miami. Even though it was close, and as easy as they wanted they could have lost it. But with that being said, you had the last breath of the Dolphins season on the line. And the body was getting ready to put in the casket.

You threw it in the casket. And at the end of the game Tyler Bassett, give me the hammer. We're nailing the coffin shut. So the Buffalo Bills are in at number three. Two, it's the Kansas City Chiefs. Their offense isn't great. But DeAndre Hopkins came alive. We know Kareem Hunt's good. We know Patrick Mahomes is, even though he's not playing like it, he's still viewed as the best quarterback in the league. And Travis Kelce came alive last week as well. But that defense has been the story. And that defense, even though Baker Mayfield did a nice job in the game on Monday night, that defense has been better than the offense now for a year and a half. So I put the Kansas City Chiefs in at number two.

And then in at number one, I didn't think I was going to move the Chiefs off the one spot. It doesn't matter where you play the games. Doesn't matter if it's indoors.

Doesn't matter if it's in a monsoon at legendary Lambeau Field. The Detroit Lions right now, they just dominate. And they don't only beat you. They smack you around.

They kick your teeth in. And they drag you from goal line to goal line for four quarters. So the Lions are in at number one. Commanders five, Ravens four, Bills three, Chiefs two. And the Detroit Lions in at number one. Stu, speak now or forever hold your peace.

All right. What about the Pittsburgh Steelers who have allowed the second fewest points in the NFL? I just don't trust their quarterback.

Like I look at these other teams. Goff, I'd rather have over Russ. Mahomes, obviously rather have over Russ. Allen, over Russ. Lamar, over Russ.

And even Jayden Daniels, what I've seen so far right now, over Russ. I think the Steelers' record is better than what they actually are. And I know the old adage is you aren't what your record says you are. But with the Steelers, they're the one exception. Because the Steelers have had a really good record right the last decade. But they haven't won a playoff game since the 2016 season. So I think it's one of those seasons again where the Steelers look better than what they actually are. Can they win a playoff game this year? Yes. But I don't think that's an elite football team in the NFL.

All right. What about the Eagles who are on a four-game winning streak? I still don't trust the coach. It felt like the Eagles lost last week. They won. Nicobe Dean made a heck of a play. But the coach literally took nine points off the board.

So if you have a problem, if you didn't have a problem with one of the decisions, okay. Maybe you make it like seven or six points off the board. But he still kept nine points off the board.

Pass it up on two field goals and then pass it up on three extra points to go for two and keep on chasing points. So that team has top five talent. But their coach is not a top five coach in the league. And he's out of the contenders the one coach that I'm just like, I have no confidence in. What about the Minnesota Vikings who have only lost to the Lions and Rams?

I'll tell you, I thought it was the toughest team to leave out. I love what I'm seeing out of Flores. Their offense wasn't spectacular this past week. So even though they have the talent on the offense side of the ball, I wonder if Darnold's going to hit a little bit of a limit. But that defense, man, makes him a contender with what Brian Flores is able to do. So just a little lack of trust in the offense from what I just saw up against Indianapolis.

All right. And last but not least, their NFC North counterpart in the Packers. The health of Jordan Love concerns me. And they just lost the game where probably he should not have played.

I admire the effort of him going on out there. But the health of Jordan Love has been a major story this year. And up until last week, they've been able to survive even with him being banged up. But this was one of those moments where I'm just like, hmm, is this going to be a lingering issue all throughout the year?

All right. Let's take five ones in my top five teams in college football. Oregon won, Ohio State two, Georgia three, Miami four, Indiana five.

And in the NFL, Lions one, Chiefs two, Bills three, Ravens four, and the commanders in at five. One former NFL player said that Dak Prescott quit on the Cowboys. Now, my understanding is he has a legitimate hamstring injury. So I have seen the headline. I have not heard the audio yet intentionally. I will play that audio next. I think I know which way I'm leaning on the take, but I can't be moved by it. I can't be swayed by.

I can't change my opinion on it. So we'll play that audio next. Update time first. Here's Rich Ackerman. It's time to ask the pros where you, the listener, gets us a question. It's brought to you by Riley Autopart. Simply tweet your question at INF Sports that are at Zach Gelb using the hashtag. Ask the pros be listening later in the program when we might answer your question.

Think of Riley Autoparts for all your car care needs and get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. So the facility is the name of the show on FS1. How do they come up with these names? You know, I love Craig Cardin and Danny Parkins and Mark Schlerff. They call their show Breakfast Ball.

And then you got the facility on FS1. But James Jones, who I happen to like. I've had him on before.

Former Packer wide receiver, right? Always good when he comes on the air. He had a take though yesterday that you see a headline a lot of times and you wonder if the headline matches the sound. Because sometimes people get misquoted or it's taken out of context.

Like that's happened to me. I made a joke about a week, week and a half ago, where I was talking about how bad the Michigan quarterback situation is. And I made a joke that Sharone Moore is going to go inquire to see if John O'Korn has any eligibility left, who is a terrible quarterback for Michigan.

And he is currently 29 years old. And I got sent an article where it said football analyst Zach Gelb said that Michigan may turn to John O'Korn. And I'm just like.

Did we all lose our sense of humor to people not understand what a joke is and like maybe it was a I don't even know. But if this was an actual writer with the pulse, how stupid are you? Where you write this article and then you don't even check to see like what? Just because I send out a tweet, you write an article about like, don't get me wrong, I got good takes. You know, I got good opinions. You know, whenever I speculate, like I put out a tweet about coaches that could that could potentially get fired and people like Zach Gelb is reporting. No, I'm just giving an opinion. You know, sometimes I'll get information and I've broken news before and I'll tell you, but it will be like breaking news sources say or a source says it's not, hey, I think Dennis Allen's going to get fired.

And Doug Peterson is going to get fired. Well, in Dennis Allen's case, it actually did. But it's not got any inside information on that.

I was just using my brain. So I saw the headline with James Jones and I think it's pretty simple here. He said Dak Prescott quit on the Cowboys. But I want to hear why he thinks that. So here's the audio and I'll react to that.

Quitting. Oh, I need I need some proof. I need some like that. Like, like, like, like we need to choke hold.

And it's crazy because like I've been there. No, it ain't even like funny, though, like my man quitting on these dudes. I've had a hamstring plenty of times and I'm back the next week. I'm not Tyreek Hill. It don't take no four weeks for you to hear from no hamstring. You're not Lamar Jackson.

You're not Jalen hurts. You're not running. Where are you? Where are you running to? Four weeks, right? No fight. No, not today, man. I'll be back in two weeks.

I'll be back in a week. This is a hamstring for a quarterback that's not explosive at the quarterback spot. Dak Prescott with the way the season is going right now. We heard him on the sideline. What he said back is quitting on these boys. Here's why I think that's an overreaction.

So let's address the elephant in the room, right? I'm not a lip reader, but everyone's saying Dak said, like, we bleep and suck, which is true. When I first saw Dak Prescott was hurt, it was obvious that it was a hand injury because his hand was bleeding.

And then you have whoever the sideline reporter come on the screen and say, hey, he's a hamstring injury. The Cowboys say he's out. Here's though where, Stu, I'm not ready to say Dak Prescott is quitting on the team.

And why I thought it was a rush to judgment by James Jones. We have not officially have seen Dak Prescott get placed on I.R. They're still undecided. That was the latest this morning. So the feel on Monday was that early Monday morning that he wasn't going to be placed on I.R.

And then when Jerry Jones does his interview with Sean and RJ, you would think Jerry Jones knows what he's talking about, but you never know anymore with Jerry Jones. He goes, he's likely going to be put on I.R. And then I read today that it's undecided that he's going to be placed on I.R. I would say, though, if he does go on I.R., four games miss for a hamstring injury does seem like a lot.

It does. But I don't know, like I've been pretty I don't want to say critical about Dak. I think I'm just right on Dak. He's good. He's not great. He gets paid like a great quarterback. He's not going to produce great moments. I don't view him as a top 10 quarterback in the league. I think he's just on the outside looking in of being a top 10 quarterback. But what I'll say about Dak is Dak doesn't win and Dak doesn't get criticized for not trying. Like, I don't know, Stu, Dak, there are some players in this league that you'd be like, OK, wouldn't surprise me if he quit on the team. That to me doesn't seem like a quitter. And I thought that was a premature remark by James Jones.

Like, if you tell me, OK, gets placed on I.R. and he's out four weeks. OK, I'm not going to say it. I don't think it's right to say it. And I've accused players of quitting before. But you got to.

You got a little bit more information there is what I'm getting at, because what happens if he's only out for a week, which is fair to miss a week for hamstring and he comes back next week. Are you going to say sorry? Like, are you just going to be like, oh, no, I accused the guy quitting. But Stu, we could criticize. There's a lot to criticize for Dak.

We don't have to dig deep to find criticism of Dak. I wouldn't ever refer to him as a quitter. I happen to actually think he's a good leader. I don't think he's a great quarterback. And I think he has to deal with a lot of crap. And hey, he gets paid a lot of money to do so that Jerry Jones brings his own way. But Dak doesn't seem to me like a guy that would just quit on the team.

Like, hey, give you a perfect example. And I know that he had a serious ending injury. But if Deshaun Watson, let's just say, had a hamstring and he was like, oh, I'm going on IR for four weeks. That wouldn't surprise me. But Dak Prescott quitting, Stu, that would surprise me. Yeah, I don't see it.

I don't think he's quitting on his team. I think, I mean, maybe James Jones had like less severe hamstring injuries. You're right. Four weeks might be a lot, but more than a week. It's not inconceivable, though.

No, it's not. I mean, like you look at baseball guys have gone on to miss three, two, three, four weeks. Like, I don't know. I just don't think, listen, this has happened in week two and he missed the whole season.

And OK, then that's different. But if he's going to miss four games or maybe he doesn't even miss four. Maybe he misses three. They don't put him on IR.

I don't know. I just don't see it. And without him getting placed on IR, that's why. And I know it's a tough spot because the owner basically said he's getting placed on IR. So right with any other owner, you operate logically that he is on IR.

But it hasn't officially happened yet. And until that happens, I don't even think it's fair game to say that Dak Prescott is quitting on the Dallas Cowboys. But I will say from this, we debated a lot of quarterbacks this offseason. And if you listen to me, I said the Jaguars should not rush to pay Trevor Lawrence. I said the Dolphins should not rush to pay to a Tonga Vailoa. And I said the Dallas Cowboys should not rush once they didn't do it to start free agency, because then they could have actually gone all in and moved around the money. They should not have rushed to pay Dak Prescott.

And look at all those three teams right now. Trevor Lawrence isn't playing well. Tua unfortunately suffered another concussion.

And thankfully, he got his money. But that's not someone that I'm thinking is going to have that much longer of like a long career in the NFL. And you look at Dak Prescott, you paid him $60 million a year. I'm going to make the playoffs. Jaguars aren't going to make the playoffs. Dolphins, all three of those teams aren't going to make the playoffs.

So it's like, who's going to regret it the most is the question. And it's like, I would say it's the Cowboys, because like the Jaguars at least have some pieces. The Dolphins have some pieces. And just Trevor and Tua have struggled to stay healthy. And Dak's the most consistent out of the three. But they have some stars. Like, hey, Micah Parsons is a star, C.D.

Lamb is a star. But the rest of the team is significantly flawed. Like heading into the season, the team had the most confidence in out of those three to miss the playoffs. It was Dallas.

It was. And Dak is also older than the other two. And I think we know what Dak's ceiling is. I think I know what Tua and Trevor's ceiling is, but they're still so young that they still have time with good health to potentially turn it around.

Alrighty, we'll take a time out. We found out the first rankings of the college football playoffs last night, looking at the top 12 teams. How many teams could actually win a championship? And who's a team that didn't make the top 12 that could still make the college football playoff down the road?