Zach UPDATES Super Bowl and NFL Award Picks (Hour 2)

Alrighty, welcome back in hour number two of our radio program.

It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. Really happy for Shane Beamer at South Carolina. What a wonderful weekend it was for that program and a great victory up against at the time Top 10 Texas A&M. The game was tied right at halftime and then in the second half they dominated A&M outscoring them 24 to nothing to get a 24 point victory. Final score was South Carolina 44, A&M 20 and now we know South Carolina 44. South Carolina turns their attention to their game this upcoming weekend up against a very tough and fun Vanderbilt team.

And now joining us is the coach of South Carolina and that's Shane Beamer. Coach, first off, congratulations. Appreciate the time.

Thanks so much for doing this. How you been? I've been great. Appreciate you saying that. It was a great weekend and thanks for having me on today.

Yeah, well I appreciate you coming on. So you guys got off to a really good start. We've seen you before in these games this year.

Get out hot. You're up 17 to 6. Then you allow back to back touchdowns and right before the half, I thought getting that field goal just to walk into the locker room tied was enormous for your football team. How big, looking back at it, was the field goal right before the end of halftime?

Yeah, that's a great point. One of the things I was really, really proud of the other night was just our response when A&M responded, which we knew they would. We got off to a great start.

They came back. They took the lead. And then for us to be able to execute a two minute drive down the field and get points right there was huge. And it was just to tie it up. It was just enough momentum to finish the half. And it allowed us to go in there. And as coaches talk about, look, we're in a tie ball game versus a top 10 team that's undefeated in the SEC.

What more do you want? It's all right here in front of us. But absolutely, that drive and then the field goal was really big. You know, I was sitting there. I was watching the game with a fat Italian sandwich and I may have had a cocktail or two. And I'm thinking when you walk into the locker room at halftime, seeing your team play quite a few times this year and how it just hasn't gone right for you guys in these big games, I'm like, Shane Beamer's just got to give this electric speech. Was it calm in that locker room like you were talking about or were you a little fired up when talking to the squad?

I'd say it was a little bit of both. You know, as soon as we came off the field, I grabbed them. And usually I say something to them right before we go back out on the field.

But in that instance, I just walked right in the locker room before I got with the offense and the defensive coaches. And really just told them what I just said that, look, guys, you know, it's what more could you want? We're at home. It's a tie ball game. You know, they've responded. We've responded.

Told you guys it was going to be a heavyweight fight and that's what it is. And we'll find out a lot about our team here in the second half, but making sure they also understood that, you know, give Texas A&M credit. But we had, you know, at that point, we had given up a long touchdown run because we were misaligned on defense and gave up a long touchdown run. We had some mistakes on offense that affected us.

So really it was more let's get ourselves corrected and fixed here at the half. And then when we come out here in the second half, we've been talking all week that this is an identity-type game and we're going to find out a lot about ourselves and our team and our program here in the next 30 minutes. And then your team is able to outscore an A&M in the second half 24 to nothing. If I would have told you that walking out of the locker room to go play the next 30 minutes that you would blank them in the second half and you guys have put up 24 points, what would you have said to me in the moment? I was hoping to score 24 in the game against that defense.

But in all seriousness, I would have told you that I would think it was possible that we were at home and our home crowd, the energy and the momentum that they create, certainly we can get on a roll with anyone. And our offense had shown some signs of really being productive that night at the half. And we were doing some great things at halftime. We really were running the ball, throwing the ball.

I don't think we had a penalty in the first half. So I knew that if we continued to do those things and we were able to get some turnovers, that was going to be huge. And that was one thing I said at halftime too. I think from a turnover standpoint, at halftime, they had not turned the ball over at all and we had turned it over one time. And we talked a lot going into the week that we are going to have to get some takeaways in this game. A&M is too good on defense and they're operating at a high level offensively. So I challenge our guys, we've got to go get some takeaways because right now we're losing that battle 1-0. If you had told me that we would get two takeaways in the second half in our own territory, stop them on another 4th and 1 and continue to be efficient, I would say that there's a chance. But our guys played really, really great in the second half.

There's no question about it. Against a really good team and really physical team that prides themselves on getting better as the game goes. You know the conversation heading into a season like this.

Some people are out on you, some people are out on your program. A lot of those times you're in a lot of those games this year and they just haven't gone your way. For it to go right, for you to get that victory, now sit at 5-3, just be the top 10 team. I called it a program changing win for your squad. How do you look at what that win means now moving forward for South Carolina? Yeah, obviously we're not talking about A&M after we got back to work this week. We've got another big challenge in Nashville this Saturday.

But I'm not dumb. I also realize the impact that win had in a lot of ways on the field, as a program, off the field from a recruiting standpoint. The people that were at that game or watched that game on television. We'll be feeling the impact of that game for many, many years.

There's no question about it. In the short term, I didn't really think so much about the impact of what it meant in the moment. For me, just happy for all of our players, but really happy just for our older guys. We've got a lot of guys, I think 13 players that have been here since 2020.

That's the year before I got here. And then a lot of guys that have been here with me since I became the head coach before the 2021 season. So they could have easily bolted after last season. Last year was tough. Just the adversity we faced with injuries and not having the record that we wanted.

Human nature is to take the easy way out and move on. And these guys double down on this place and what this place is about. And have been on a mission since January to have nights like we had last Saturday. So I was just really happy for them. Yeah, I want to talk about your quarterback.

I also want to talk about Vanderbilt. We'll get to them in just a second, Shane Beamer. But after the game, coach, I didn't know you had that Rizz in you. That was really impressive.

Getting the whole team to serenade your wife on her birthday and sing a little Fantasia when I see you. How'd you come up with that one, coach? Yeah, that was cool. I had to look up what the word Rizz means because I heard that as well. I wasn't sure.

I was hoping that's a good thing. We play music at times during our practices just at the beginning when we're stretching and early on during individual and things like that. Last year, I started hearing that song.

And I'll be honest with you, I wasn't like I knew it, but I really wasn't familiar with it. But when it would play at practice, I mean, our players, they would sing, they would sing while they were dancing. I could tell they liked that song. So it just continued to play. And then I'd start listening to the words and it just kind of hit me that, you know, earlier in the week, I was like, yeah, that'd be cool.

My wife's birthday, it's actually today, but I was like, my wife's birthday is coming up. If we win the game, that would be fun in the locker room. And I told the guys, I need you to have my back because I didn't want, we needed to create a vibe in there for sure. It didn't need to be me just singing and nobody else doing anything.

And they answered the call, the players did as well. And it was a really cool moment. And I had no idea that it would be as widespread and viral and impactful as it's been.

It's been pretty cool, especially from a recruiting standpoint. Yeah, well, the video did like four or five million views, I think the last time I checked a few days ago. And did Fantasia send you flowers herself? Yeah, she did. She sent flowers and she sent a video to me as well.

She's been super sweet about that and really, really cool. So, fun moment and that's what it's all about. You work really, really hard during the week to have locker room celebrations like that as well. And really, really, just a really cool moment. And now you're screwed moving forward, coach.

How do you top next year's birthday? Seriously. I know. I've heard from so many husbands across the world that I know that have texted me to say that I've ruined it for all husbands across America because nobody can compare to that one.

Those texts are still coming in today as a matter of fact. That's unbelievable. Your quarterback, Lenora Sellers, he is exciting. We saw what he did throwing the ball. 244 passing yards, two touchdowns, and on the ground we know what he could do as well. 15 carries for 106 yards and another touchdown. Take me through who your quarterback is, if people don't know much about him or have elected to doubt your quarterback through this last year.

Yeah, I think he's a guy that just continues to get better, very poised, very confident. You know, people forget that obviously he was a very inexperienced quarterback coming into the season. He was a redshirt freshman. And then you go into his redshirt freshman season and he plays the first game against Old Dominion. There's a period of the Kentucky game, week two, where he got knocked out with an injury.

He came back and returned. Game three was LSU. He didn't play the second half because of injury.

Game four was Akron. He didn't play at all because of an injury. And then he came back in game five against Ole Miss.

So, you know, Ole Miss, then Alabama, then Oklahoma, you know, those were only, up until last week, he had only played in three complete SEC games. So, he's a god at each of those games. You saw him getting better as he got more and more experience. And he's a great young man, 240 pounds, can run, continues to improve as a quarterback. Great leader and just a really, really, he's got the DNA of what you want at your quarterback position.

There's no question about it. Yeah, what would you say is his ceiling? Like, if everything goes right for him and he keeps on putting up the performances like he did up against A&M moving forward and gets better with just more and more reps, what can he be moving forward for your program? Yeah, I mean, I think he can be as good as he wants to be.

And, you know, the sky's the limit for him. I mean, he can make all the throws. He obviously can run. He can make people miss. He can break tackles. He's intelligent. He works really hard. He's a football junkie.

I know this. I mean, I'm glad he's ours, that's for sure. All right, let me get to Vanderbilt. Clark Lee has done an incredible job this year, right? Everyone had his program looking for a new coach at the end of the season. Everyone thought he was going to be done at some point this season. He's had a big victory up against Alabama.

That team is as tough, one of the toughest teams I've seen play this year. Just how about what's impressed you with what the coach has been able to do this year getting ready to prepare for them? Yeah, I got a lot of respect for him. Clark and I were both hired as head coaches in the SEC at the same time, same year, so somebody that I think a lot of personally and professionally. He's done a great job.

I mean, people forget he had some wins before this year that were very big wins, beating Kentucky, beating Florida, and whatnot. And then obviously what he's done this season. But they're doing a great job. They're obviously involved in everything that they're doing. And then as a team, they're doing the things that you have to do to win football games. They're leading the SEC in time of possession. They're the least penalized team in the SEC. I think they're second in turnover margin. So they're not turning the ball over. They're not beating themselves with penalties. They're finding ways to just get the game to the fourth quarter by controlling the ball. And then they've got great confidence in what they're doing right now, and they're really hard to beat.

I think they've got three losses this year by a total of 10 points, and they're doing a really good job, and they certainly have our respect. And the quarterback doesn't take no for an answer. Diego Pavia, and he has a lot of energy clearly, and he's a tremendous leader. You know, when I kind of view you as a coach or you see, being a leader, you see a lot of energy. And I'm not saying you see yourself in Diego, but even though it's going to be a tough matchup for you guys this week, you know, it has to be a play you have a lot of respect for.

Yeah, no, absolutely. Got a ton of respect for the way he plays the game. His energy fuels that Vanderbilt team. I mean, you can tell it's his team, and they rally around him.

It's been really fun to watch. He's a competitor. He's tough. He can run. He can make throws.

He's a gamer. And it's been really cool to watch him play this season, and I've got a ton of respect for him. Last thing I'll ask you, Coach Shane Beamer, you know, we talk about the moment with your wife after the game. I also saw your dad was on the sideline, which is pretty cool as well. Just how about that family atmosphere that you've kind of, you know, really have implemented at South Carolina? Yeah, it's what it's all about. I was very fortunate growing up, the son of a coach, to be able to, you know, experience really cool moments with my dad, whether it be on the big stage at Virginia Tech or even on the smaller stage when he was the head coach at Murray State. All those memories that I had, and to be able to do it now with my family. Not just my family, but our coaches, wives and kids.

It's what it's all about. And, you know, there's a lot of sacrifices that we have to make as coaches because of our job, time away from our family and things like that. So to be able to include our families in what we're doing and be able to include them in special moments like we had the other day is something I'm really grateful to be able to do.

Well, Coach, heck of a moment. Good luck this weekend. We appreciate the time. Thanks for it. You got it. Thanks for having me on. There you go. Shane Beamer joining us on the Zach Geld show on the Infinity Sports Network.

Always enjoy when he spends a few minutes with us. All right, we'll take a break. 15 after the hour. When we come on back, we're going to do a middle-of-the-year look back at my preseason predictions in the NFL.

Awards, Super Bowl picks. How many will we keep the same? And then how many will we end up changing? We'll do that on the other side. All right.

It is Zach Geld show on the Infinity Sports Network. So before the season did commence, I picked all seven AFC and NFC playoff teams. I then gave you an MVP, a comeback player of the year, a coach of the year, an offensive player of the year, a defensive player of the year, an offensive rookie of the year, a defensive rookie of the year. And then I gave you a Super Bowl prediction. So Stuart Kovacs has found the way to compile a little list of those old predictions. He went back into the archives and he probably saw some of those picks and he was like, oh, God, those are stinky.

And then some other ones he was like, oh, those are pretty, pretty, pretty good. So still, let's start with the division winners. Let's start in the AFC. Who do I have winning the AFCs?

All right. AFC East, you had the Buffalo Bills. And that's one that I feel great about. They are seven and two. The Jets are three and six. The Dolphins are two and six. The Patriots are two and seven. I will keep that prediction of the Buffalo Bills winning the AFC East. OK, in the AFC North, you had the Cincinnati Bengals.

Hmm. I'm going to change that. I'm going to change that and I'm going to say that the Baltimore Ravens end up winning that division, not the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the Baltimore Ravens.

All right. AFC South, you had the Jacksonville Jaguars. Did you read that wrong?

Unfortunately, no, I did not. Hmm. Yeah, I'm going to change that and I will go with the Houston Texans. That was my worst preseason prediction.

Because if I recall, we'll get to the coach of the year later. That is synonymous with that prediction. I would say those are my two worst predictions, but we'll just go in order here. I will change that to the Texans. All right. And then the West, you had the Chiefs.

I'm going to keep that. I feel pretty good that the Chiefs are going to win the AFC West. OK? How about the Wild Card teams?

All right. Wild Card teams, first one you had is Baltimore Ravens. Obviously, I have the Ravens now winning the North, so I will swap out the Ravens. Give me the other two teams that I put in there in the Wild Card. And you had the New York Jets and the Houston Texans. So I did have the Texans making the playoffs, just not winning the division. So I have to eliminate the Ravens and the Texans from the Wild Card because I have them winning the division. I will replace them with the Steelers.

I will also, hmm. I will put in the, hmm, going to hold off on the Chargers. I'm going to say the Bengals win tonight. And then the last team I had was who? Was it the Jets, you said? The New York Jets. Yeah.

OK. You know what? And I'm going to get dragged for this on social media at one point, except that Alon's Twitter now, Elon Musk's Twitter, I feel like it's tougher to find your older tweets now. But I did have a tweet when Justin Herbert got injured, how they shouldn't rush him back. Even though I love Harbaugh, it's kind of like a wash season anyway. But I will say that the toughness of that offensive line and also the coaching of Jim Harbaugh will put the Chargers in the playoffs. So that means Bills, Ravens, Texans, Chiefs, your division winners, Steelers, Chargers, Bengals as your Wild Card team. So those would be your seven playoff teams. So no Broncos, no Colts, and obviously no Jets or Dolphins going on some magical run. You know, it feels like those will be the seven playoff teams. OK. Have at the NFC. All right.

NFC East, you had the Eagles. This is tough. Because the commanders are seven and two. You know what?

I have to call a friend and that friend is Google. I'm not even going to look at the commanders second half of the season schedule. I'm just looking at the Eagles beat the Cowboys to play the commanders Rams, Ravens tough. Then they finish the season.

Carolina, Pittsburgh, Washington, Dallas, New York. You know what? I'm going to change that.

Commanders, commanders go win the division. OK. All right. In the north, you had the Lions. I will keep the Detroit Lions easily. OK. In the NFC West, you had the 49ers.

Oh boy. You know what? Something's up with the Niners.

You know, I know they're getting healthier. I just don't feel like there's a drive there right now. But do I trust any of the other three teams? Seahawks, Cardinals, like I'm not all in.

You know what? I'm going to say the Rams win that division. I'm going to change that. Even though the Rams have a lot of injuries. I will put the Rams win in the NFC West. OK. And then finally, NFC South, you had the Falcons. I will keep the Atlanta Falcons. So who are my wildcard teams? I know I had the Rams in there because I had them win in the Super Bowl.

Yes. Rams, Packers and Bears. So I will keep the Packers. I will take out the Rams. I will take out the Bears. I will put the Vikings in the postseason. And then it's a choice between Philly and the Niners. You know what?

Bleep it. Let's have a little fun. Eagles in. Niners out. I think only one team from the NFC West is going to get in. Now, the Niners can still win that division. But for the sake of this exercise, I'm going to say the Niners. I'm going to bet against them. So my seven playoff teams then from the NFC would be the commanders, Lions, Rams, Falcons, Eagles, Packers, Vikings. OK. You want to go to the awards?

Yes. So MVP, you had Josh Allen. So that race to me, even though I would kind of wish that Derrick Henry would get some more play, I do think it's between Josh Allen and I do think it's Lamar Jackson. I will. I will keep that and I will go with Josh Allen, so I'll keep that.

All right. Comeback player of the year, Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, he ain't going to win that award. So I would say it's Sam Darnold.

But here's the thing. They tell you now not to vote just because like a player wasn't playing or was benched or just wasn't successful. You've got to have like overcome some adversity and some injury. So you know who I'm going to change it to? Kirk Cousins. You know, Kirk Cousins, we talked about the other day, I don't think he wins the MVP, but there's like an outside chance for Kirk Cousins to have an MVP coming up that Achilles injury and he's going to win that division. I'll say it's Kirk Cousins. All right.

So you want to whisper this one? Yeah. Coach of the year, Doug Peterson. What was that? Doug Peterson.

That was bad. He's going to get fired. Not coach of the year. Yeah, he's not coach of the year. I will change the coach of the year to Dan Quinn. Dan Quinn coach of the year.

OK. All right. Offensive player of the year, Bijan Robinson. Derrick Henry.

That's all change it to. OK, defensive player of the year, T.J. Watt. Can I ask you a question here? Sure. Do you know what the T.J. stands for? I have no idea. It'd be a total guess.

I'm not going to lie. I have never seen someone spell out what the T is for and the J is for when it comes for T.J. Watt until the other day when I was like, let me see the defensive player of the year award odds. And I saw it listed as Trent Jordan Watt. And for a second, I'm like, who the heck is Trent Jordan? I'm like, that's a defensive player.

I don't know who he is. And I just didn't see the Watt part. I thought it was Slash Watt, but it's Trent Jordan Watt. So I will keep that. T.J. Watt is the best defensive player in the NFL. All right. So for offensive rookie of the year, you had Caleb Williams.

And you know what? I was a coward with this pick. I really was. Because I remember saying, I want to go Jayden Daniels, but I think the Bears are going to make the playoffs.

I don't believe the commanders. I think they could be like, fine, but I don't think they were going to be a playoff team. I think I called them a dark horse team to make the playoffs for the year started, but I wasn't thinking they were actually going to make it.

It's clearly changed. You know, Caleb Williams ain't going to win offensive rookie of the year. It's Jayden Daniels. And then for defensive rookie of the year, you had Jared Vers. That's my best preseason prediction.

Let me tell you. He is the favorite right now to win defensive rookie of the year. Out of all these predictions that I made, like the one I think I've been most vocal about was Josh Allen winning the MVP, but I don't think that really took a lot.

I just think people were so down on the bills entering this year that it was just an easy, overachieved spot, and the Jets and the Dolphins wouldn't be what people thought the Jets and the Dolphins would be. But as long as he wins it, right, he's still got some games left. But right now, as we enter week 10, he is the odds-on favorite to win defensive rookie of the year, Jared Vers. I will keep that.

That's the one I'm most proud of. Okay, and what was the Super Bowl pick? Yeah, speaking of the Rams, you have the Rams 24 beating the Ravens 23.

I'm going to swap out the Rams. And I'm going to put the Lions in the Super Bowl. Now, I'm going to have the Lions also winning the Super Bowl.

The question is, do I be like every Tom, Dick, and Harry and say, okay, I'm going to swap out the Ravens. You know, I'm not going to put the Bills in there, and I'll put the Chiefs in there. I would love to see Lions and Ravens.

That'd be fun. In New Orleans, a lot of points. I'm going to swap out the Ravens. I'm going to put the Chiefs in there. And here's why.

And this is going to sound zany. I want the Lions to win the Super Bowl. And I think that the Ravens, because they have a better defense, would be able to defeat the Lions. And I know you could say, hey, the same thing, the Chiefs, they have maybe the best defense in football, and I know I'm not going to bet against, you know, it's tough to bet against Patrick Mahomes, but that offense has been up and down. So I am going to say, Lions and Chiefs, you know what, screw it. I'm keeping the Ravens.

Forget about it. I thought I was going to go with the Chiefs, and then I'm like, I don't want to do it. Because I saw to the corner of my eye, Santa gave me a little smile, like, oh, it's the Chiefs, oh, the Chiefs. Screw it.

I don't want Santa to be happy tonight. So I'm going Lions, and I'm going Ravens. I'm keeping the Ravens.

I'm swapping out the Rams. Lions and Ravens in the Super Bowl. Lions win it all. Dan Campbell, bite off some kneecaps and raise a Lombardi Trophy. You think Dan Campbell would break the Lombardi Trophy?

Like, remember, we had Gronk. He was at Fenway Park. He was laying down a bunt with the Lombardi Trophy. Brady was drunk as a skunk on a boat, tossing the Lombardi Trophy. Can't you just see Dan Campbell kind of being like Steve Austin, Cold Stone Steve Austin, and just take the Lombardi. Now, they don't have another Lombardi, but then he takes it like a large coffee or a beer and just smacks it together with the Lombardi Trophy and then breaks the Lombardi Trophy. The Lions win the Super Bowl. I don't think that that trophy makes it back to Detroit in one piece. Or it gets broken at the parade.

That's how much mayhem would occur. Alrighty, so those are some of the predictions that we keep or some of the predictions that we change. It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. We will take a break. When we come on back, a guy that we thought was definitely going to get fired is now going to be back as the head football coach of one college team. We will discuss that headline when we come on back.

Is this the right move or is it a mistake? We will get to that on the other side. Update time. Here he is, Rich Ackerman. And this portion of the show is brought to you by Ethos Life, the easy way to get life insurance in 10 minutes up to $2 million in coverage with no medical exam and just a few health questions.

Get your free quote at checkethos.com. Not available in all states. So the Florida AD today, Scott Strickland comes out and basically writes this letter, which was a letter of support for Billy Napier. You know, I said this for a while. I didn't think it was a matter of if Billy Napier was going to get fired. It was just when. And when you say something like that, you know, I'm not going to be a smart ass here and say, oh, well, that statement could still be true because the when could just be next year.

But when you say something like that, you know that it's intended for at some point this season. So the fact that he's not going to get fired this season and he's going to be back next year is surprising because they got blown out at home up against Miami. Then they got blown out at home two weeks later up against A&M. And when you start the year one and two and what was viewed as a make or break year for Billy Napier and especially how against A&M, right, lagway had that big game up against Samford. I know it's Samford. They didn't go back to him and they started Mertz.

That never made any sense to me. But since then, starting one and two, they crushed Mississippi State. They beat UCF and the coach should have been aggressive for it at the end of the game. Didn't they lose to Tennessee in overtime? They then smacked Kentucky.

And then they gave a respectable effort up against Georgia, where they lost their quarterback in the game, D.J. Lagway. And thankfully the injury is not as bad as we thought with D.J. Lagway. I thought he was going to be done for the year.

They got Texas this week. And you look at D.J. Lagway, he has practice. He did practice on Wednesday.

So that's encouraging. But you look back at that game against Georgia, Florida did lead at one point 13-6. They were able to tie up the game in the fourth quarter and they allowed two touchdowns at the end. So to be doing that with a third string quarterback, because Aiden Warner wasn't the starting before the year was Mertz, and then you go to D.J. and then you go to him, that's a pretty impressive job with what Billy Napier has been able to do. And it shows that his players believe in him. Because we've all been around situations where everyone says the coach is getting fired, and the players tune out the coach and the players basically just quit on the coach. But the fact that and I understand, hey, it's three and two since the A&M game. But the fact that this ship hasn't totally sunk is encouraging. You know, I'm not saying you're thrilled about it. Personally, I don't think this letter should have been sent out.

But people start thinking about their futures in the present when the nature of the sport is right now with NIL and the transfer portal. And I thought this was the biggest part of the letter, is in the aftermath of it. You know, Pete Thamel does a good job for ESPN, you know, outside of the Michigan stuff.

You know, but he does a good job reporting. And he said that 70 percent of Florida's name, image and likeness money is tied to freshmen and sophomores. And there is a sense that losing Napier would also mean losing Lagway, who chose the Gators to play for Napier. So if you're a Florida fan, you may ask, why was this letter released now? I don't think the people running Florida are dummies, right? They know in all likelihood, with their next three games being Texas, LSU and Ole Miss, and that at the end of the season, you have Florida State. Like, you've got to be Florida State. What has happened with Florida State is like criminal. They just missed the playoffs last year. They're undefeated.

You know, and then they are one and eight this year. So I think the brass of Florida said, hey, we've got to be proactive here instead of reactive. Because if we get smacked on Saturday up against Texas, everyone's going to say Billy Napier is going to get fired. And we don't want our players, especially our freshmen and sophomores, where a lot of the NIL money is tied up 70 percent. We don't want those guys thinking, hey, the coach may be gone at the end of the year, even if we didn't fire him yet. So now I'm going to start thinking about my future, because even though that window isn't open right now, if you are a player, especially when we're talking about 17, 18, 19, 20 years olds, like when you're in that range and you already start thinking about leaving, well, you have one foot that's still present, but the other foot is already out the door. And the odds of keeping that player there when you start to think about leaving, I don't think is very much advantageous for Florida. So this to me is Florida saying we believe in the young roster. We know this is not going to be pretty probably the next three weeks or so.

So instead of this question hanging out there and being talked about, you know, on ESPN, on game day, being talked about on big noon kickoff, when the topic of Florida comes up, when the panel discusses those schools and they discuss Florida and they discuss the hot seat at the end of the year, which coaches could be on the move, let's give a voice of support for Billy Napier now. Here's the thing, though. And I know people want one opinion.

You know, to go one way and you don't really want two opinions that could go another way. I could be on board in saying give it one more year and then maybe with the young roster that you have. Right.

You could take that next step. But I always say this. Once you say in college, a guy isn't the guy and the majority of the fan base right now does not believe Billy Napier is the guy. And I'm not saying right at hiring. I'm saying after he's been there for a few years, you know, because you could make a hire. People could be like, oh, like when Dabo Sweeney got hired at Clemson, people thought it was a bad hire.

It's never going to work. And even though Dabo right now, I have my problems with Dabo Sweeney and I don't like what he's done in the last few years. Dabo was, you know, a rock star hire and and better than anyone, even the biggest Clemson homer in the world could have ever imagined. But once you have been deemed like Billy Napier is deemed the guy going in and once people lose that faith in you, you could win him back for a year. Like you may be able to win the Florida fan back next year.

But I think encapsulating that feeling and then having it just go positive, positive, positive the rest of the way is very tough to do. And I just look at recent history. Neil Brown.

Right. Everyone was out on him, had a good year last year, and now everyone's back out on Neil Brown at West Virginia. Mike Norvell, who I happen to like and I never lost faith in, going into last year, you know, I know Florida State had a nice year the year prior, but a lot of people thought he wasn't the guy.

Then everyone's like, he's the savior. Give him a contract extension after they went undefeated in the regular season and they won the ACC. And then this year they go one and eight. Once you deem someone isn't the guy, especially in college, I think it's very tough to consistently change that narrative. So is this Florida saying we believe DJ Lagway is very special? We know we're going to lose him if we bring in another coach. Yes, I think that's why they're making this move. They know the next few weeks probably aren't going to be pretty. You know, maybe the team, the younger players start playing better knowing coach could be back definitely for sure next year.

Who knows? But this move is made because they're fearing the worst in the next few games up against three really tough opponents in Texas, LSU and Ole Miss. And this is then telling their young players who your coach is going to be next year. And they're just throwing a dart on the dartboard and hoping that it sticks.

But also, it would be naive of me to not acknowledge the other part of this conversation. In recent years, we have had very active coaching cycles. Like we have seen big time names leave schools that we didn't expect them to leave. You know, we saw Nick Saban retire from Alabama, Kaitlyn DeBoer leave Washington and go to Alabama. We saw Brian Kelly leave Notre Dame and go to LSU. We saw Lincoln Riley leave Oklahoma and go to USC.

Right? We saw Wisconsin hire a new coach. Nebraska hire a new coach. And Luke Fickel and Matt Rule in the college world are big names. We've seen a lot of big names be on the move as of late. Right now this year, if you're looking to hire a new head football coach, I will say, especially in college, it doesn't mean that there's not a right name out there. But in terms of the popular names, there's not a lot of popular names that we anticipate being on the move. And in terms of like young up-and-coming coaches, you know, obviously the Georgia DC is going to be highly sought after. You know, we'll see if anyone makes a play, even though he's in his 60s for Cignetti after one year of Indiana.

Like, there's some names, but I don't think compared to like the last two, three, four years, there's like a bevy of names. And the hottest name linked to Florida was Lane Kiffin. And Lane Kiffin has had his ups and downs this year. You know, that team already has two losses. A lot of people thought they were shoeing for the college football playoff, and now they can't afford to lose another game. And Ole Miss, when you take a look at them, right, they have Georgia this weekend, then Florida, the Mississippi State.

So their season's on the line this weekend. Like, they should be Florida, they should beat Mississippi State. But if they don't beat Georgia, already having three losses, one being LSU and the other being Kentucky, like, you're not making the college football playoff with the way that I look at it right now with three losses.

So I think that also plays a factor in as well. It's who's the name out there, and do we think we have a realistic shot at getting Lane Kiffin? But if you're bringing in Lane Kiffin, I think that would bring excitement to the Florida fan base, but it would have been much easier to sell earlier in the year with what we thought Ole Miss was going to be. Like, if they miss the playoff, the Florida fans are going to say, well, he's in the SEC. People were just telling us a few weeks ago or a few months ago that back in the day, obviously, Florida's a much better job than Ole Miss, but it seemed like a lateral move with what it is now with the trans reporter at NIL. So if he wasn't getting it to work at Ole Miss in terms of taking them to a playoff on such a big season, is that that exciting of a hire as what we thought it was going to be back in September?

Now, I still think I'd rather have – here's the hot take of the day. I'd rather have Lane Kiffin than Billy Napier as my head football coach. But I think Florida's looking at this in these two ways.

One, they don't think it's likely. And I think Lane would play up the drama, and there's a chance you get rid of Billy, you lose all your transfers, and then you look stupid because Lane loves the drama. And Lane – I don't think Lane told Florida, hey, I'm not interested. Lane likes Lane, right? Lane is in love with Lane. Lane is in love with himself. That's a dude. He looks in the mirror.

He don't stop looking. So to me, you run the risk of Lane leaving you at the altar, and then even though Billy Napier is not this wonderful coach, at least you had 70 percent of your NIL money tied up to the freshman and sophomore, and you at least get them back next year, or the majority – some will leave. But the majority of them, the big players, especially the quarterback, back next year. So I think the uncertainty of Lane would leave, and then the DJ lag-wave factor, and what the schedule's about to be, and they know it's going to get ugly, that's why you get this message today that Billy Napier, we still believe in him, and we want you as fans at Florida in the swamp to still believe and give the benefit of the doubt to Billy Napier.

Once again, I don't think it's going to work. I don't think it's going to work long term, either next year or the year after that. I do think Billy Napier will be out as head coach of Florida. He will get next year. There's no guarantee that he will get a year after that, but I think at most this goes two more seasons. I would be very surprised if Billy Napier coaches three more seasons at Florida, because once again, a lot of times we've seen, and there's some misnomers, but a lot of times you see, and some anomalies I mean, but a lot of times when you are out on a coach, that's usually it for that coach long term at a program. Coming on back, the five disappointments this year in college football.