Alabama and Ohio State WILL Make Playoffs (Hour 1)

Live from the police show, you're not overly ostentatious, studios of the Infinity Sports Network here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor, 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to what is a Tuesday 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. 855-212-4227 is the number to jump on in. That's 855-212-4227. You could always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter X at Zach Gelb.

That is Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. I got Moist Mike. I got Stuart Kovacs.

Rockin' and rollin' along the other way. We'll take you all the way up until 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific time. I got a nice, big, comfy chair, and Stu, I won't yell at you today. I won't tell you to turn your microphone off, and I won't even talk about that person that may have done that over the weekend because I don't want about 10,000 text messages. I want about 10,000 text messages from that person and having to spend my entire night talking to said person about what may have happened over the weekend with another update anchor here. You know what, Stu, I won't tell you to shut up today because if I tell you to shut up today and if I have any fun at someone's expense and do a little entertaining radio show and make a few jokes, I get a diatribe and a manifesto pretty much set my way.

I knew I couldn't help myself. You get out of the system in the first minute, and then away we go, and we do what we do best for the next three hours. Sean Alexander is going to stop by, the former Seahawks running back, NFL MVP, Alabama great.

He will join us 20 minutes from now. All righty, let's get to tonight's penultimate college football playoff rankings. So you have this one, and then you got the whole big one coming up on Sunday at, I believe, 12 p.m. Eastern time, the final installment of it.

Now, here are two things that I'm curious about tonight. Will Alabama make the bracket and how far is Ohio State going to fall? Now, rule of thumb, for most of these rankings, I have sat here and I've said, I don't really care about the rankings. I care where you are in the bracket.

Well, tonight I actually will double dip. I care about both. I care about who makes the bracket and then where the rankings are, because the rankings could set up and kind of give us a little bit of guidance. Well, if option A happens or option B happens this weekend, then that team would move up, that team would move down, and you could even get a look ahead. Like, for example, I do think you're going to see Alabama move in front of Clemson tonight. Will you also see South Carolina? I would imagine move in front of Clemson as well. They just beat them. And will Ole Miss move in front of Clemson?

Like, those are just some things that I'm curious to see. I'm also fascinated if tonight, I don't think you'll have two ACC teams make the bracket, but where do they put SMU? Because if SMU loses in the conference championship game, are they out or will they get in?

I think SMU will be in the bracket even if they lose to Clemson, but you never know because if Clemson wins, that's the spot in the ACC, and then will they take a fourth SEC team or will they end up going with SMU? So there's a few things to monitor tonight, and I think the two biggest for me personally, how far is Ohio State going to fall, and then is Alabama going to make the bracket? Now, I was up late last night, later than I wanted to be up because I had to take care of some other extra business here around the Infinity Sports Network.

But I did tell you, I was going to go into the lab and I was going to play around with some chemicals, right? Test a few college football resumes. And I was going to see what I thought tonight's penultimate college football playoff rankings were going to be.

And this is what I have come up with. Number one on the bracket tonight, Oregon. Number two, Texas. Number three, SMU. Number four, Boise State. Those will be the buys.

Now, this is where it gets tricky. Penn State obviously will be five. I have Penn State in a 5-12 game going up against Arizona State. I will be curious tonight if the Big 12 could move up a little bit past the 12 spot, because if they do, the Big 12 is only getting one spot.

Is there a way that they could jump into buy territory? I would think the only way the Big 12 is going to get a buy is if Boise State loses to UNLV and then Boise State is out. So for tonight, I think we will see Penn State up against Arizona State in the 5-12 matchup. That game would be played at Happy Valley. When we get to the 6-11 matchup, Notre Dame, their stock is rising.

Their stock is booming. It is better to lose early rather than later in the regular season in college football. No one even mentions NIU in a negative way anymore, because Notre Dame hasn't lost the game since. They have two good running backs.

Raleigh Leonard has improved. And they may have the best defensive player in the country in Xavier Watts, who, by the way, is scheduled to join us on the program tomorrow. So Notre Dame in at 6. I was curious if Bama would make the bracket tonight.

I think they will. I saw that Alabama, as of this morning, was laying minus 200 to make the college football playoff. I think the committee is going to do everything in their power to get Alabama in. And when I see Alabama minus 200 as a 200 favorite to make the college football playoff, that tells me more than just, oh, Alabama is getting in.

You try to think, how are they going to get in? And once again, that could be if Alabama is minus 200. The committee is very confident that SMU is going to be Clemson because then Clemson is out.

Or maybe just Vegas thinks, hey, the ACC is only going to get one team in. But I think if you're seeing Alabama at minus 200, that also then tells me that the committee ultimately believes, or not the committee, Vegas ultimately believes, that SMU is going to be Clemson because if Clemson wins, then I still think SMU is going to get in and then Alabama would be out. So 611 tonight, Notre Dame, Alabama, that would be the matchup. 710, I got Georgia 7, Indiana 10. And then I have Ohio State falling to 8 and they'd be going up against Tennessee 9.

So to give you that one more time, on the bracket tonight, this is what I think is going to go down. Oregon 1, Texas 2, SMU 3, Boise State 4, Penn State 5, Notre Dame 6, Georgia 7, Ohio State 8, Tennessee 9, Indiana 10, Alabama 11, Arizona State 12, in terms of where they're going to be seated on the bracket. Ohio State up against Tennessee, Penn State up against Arizona State, Georgia up against Indiana, and Notre Dame up against Alabama. However, when we take a look ahead at the final rankings, Ohio State, to me, is still going to be fascinating because we know they have two losses on their resume. Oregon, which is a good loss, Michigan, which is a bad loss.

But I'm going to be curious to see the result of the Big Ten championship game. Because if Oregon wins the Big Ten championship game, Ohio State is going to significantly move back up. If Georgia wins the SEC championship game, Georgia is going to significantly move back up into a buy spot. But if Georgia loses to Texas, Georgia is going to fall a little bit from that 7 spot. And if Oregon loses to Penn State, then Oregon will fall, but I still think they will be in front of Ohio State.

But if Penn State goes down, that's where Ohio State is really going to rise. And quite frankly, I think if you're not having a buy, you're going to want to be 5 or 6. And that 5 and 6 spot on the bracket is massive. Because if it goes the way that these things have been projected to go, now 6 could get a little tricky if Alabama gets in. Your preference would be to be the 5 here.

And the 5 actually may have the best seat on the bracket. No disrespect to Boise State. I don't think there's any member of the national media that shows Boise State more respect than me.

Hey, they almost beat Oregon. But if you're like a school like Penn State and you're able to stick that landing at 5 or Notre Dame, you move up to 5, you're getting the winner of the Big 12. And I understand, hey, Dillingham has those guys rolling right now if it is Arizona State. And if you don't see Iowa State pull off the upset.

But then the winner of that gets the fourth seat. And in the 6-11 matchup, I do kind of feel like Bama, when you get the final rankings on Sunday, is going to be there at 11. You know, is there a chance, like could the Big 12 tonight, here's something also to ponder, could the Big 12 tonight be 11 and could Alabama be 12? You know, if I'm looking at this bracket and there's one thing that maybe I would get wrong, it could be Alabama being 12 tonight and Arizona State being 11. But if let's say Alabama at the end is 11, if you're the 6 seat, yeah, it's a tough matchup, but Alabama has been hot and cold. There's some weeks, Jalen Milro, he looks like he's Cam Newton, for crying out loud.

And then there's other weeks, he looks like he's a four-string quarterback. But if you get Alabama on a cold night, then you advance and you get the winner of the ACC. And SMU is a good team. You know, Clemson, if they win the conference, are they going to get a bye? Like these are all things that you got to look out for, but in all likelihood, the ACC winner, I would probably say, is going to be the three. Because the Big 10 is going to be the one, if it's Oregon or Penn State, the SEC winner, they would be the two, because Georgia didn't lose to Georgia Tech. So even if they would be the two, and then three, four, I think it's ACC three, and then four is going to be the non-Power Four Conference champ. And then we'll see where the Big 12 ends up going from seats five to 12. But those are the things I'm looking for tonight, and the two that I'm most fascinated by is after Ohio State for the last few weeks has been nailed into that fifth spot.

And then they lost, how far are they going to fall? And I have Penn State moving up, Notre Dame moving on up, and then Georgia moving on up, and then you will place Ohio State. I do think Ohio State is still going to edge out Tennessee, because, you know, Tennessee has two losses on the season. And you look at the Ohio State losses, they both have a bad loss. I just think Ohio State has the better loss right now because it's up against Oregon compared to Tennessee's being up against Georgia. So that falling of Ohio State, they will still have a home playoff game, but how much are they going to be able to move up from now until the end of the conference championship weekend? And the big talking point tonight, I think, on this show, when you have ESPN, I think it's from 7 to 730, is when they're projecting the rankings to be released for tonight. The reaction when Alabama makes the bracket, which I'm convinced it's going to happen, there's going to be a lot to come out of that. Number one, only three loss team currently on the bracket is going to be something. Number two, why are they in front of Ole Miss or South Carolina is going to be talked about? And I also do believe, you know, the talk of the ACC, which we told you about two, three weeks ago, when it started to become clear there was a chance to ACC teams could get in.

You are going to have people that are going to say, what are you judging on? And that's the vagueness of this and the ambiguity of this is, yes, if Alabama was to take the field up against Clemson or if Alabama's take the field up against SMU, you could craft the argument on why Alabama would be a favorite in that game. But the games have to matter to some extent. And I get it, the SEC is a tougher conference than the ACC, but SMU only has one loss. You know, you look at Clemson, obviously, they have three losses. But the only road Clemson has to make the playoff, because if you win your conference championship, you're guaranteed a spot, is if they win the conference championship because then Clemson would be out of the conversation. So those are some things to monitor tonight, but I'll put Alabama 11th on my bracket tonight, and I will also put Ohio State in at 8.

And those to me are the two fascinating teams, the two big brands as they have had some vulnerabilities this year. Ohio State at the end of the year losing to Michigan and now not going to the Big Ten championship game after we thought we were going to see round two of Oregon, Ohio State. And then also it's going to be Alabama. Are they back in their way into the college football playoff, which I think they are going to? And the one way that Alabama maybe could get left out is if Clemson pulls off the upset and then they say, OK, we still want to put in SMU because it's weird. There's a lot of selective kind of reasoning here and all this. I could say one thing about one conference that it changed to the other conference.

You listen, all these experts. But I feel as if if you are the favorite and you're in the conference championship game, for example, team like SMU. There is an argument to be made that they should be in either way and they shouldn't be penalized and there shouldn't be a punitive action for them going farther than Alabama. But we know that's not always the case like Clemson.

It's different. They already had three losses. There is not a way to craft an argument on why they should get in if they lose this, because that would be their fourth loss. But a program like SMU and even if Georgia, you know where to lose and then get three losses, even though they're not the favorite up against Texas and that's where it could contradict a little bit. I don't think there's a way that Georgia is going to get left out.

So here's what we know for sure. Oregon's in either way. Texas is in either way. You know, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio State, Tennessee, Notre Dame in either way.

Penn State in either way. There will be a big spot. There will be a spot for the ACC. There will be a spot for the Big 12. And there's going to be a spot for the non power conference champ. That last spot, even though it may not be 12 on the seed line, it's coming down to probably either Alabama or a fourth SEC team, whoever that may be. If you want South Carolina, if you want Ole Miss, or is it going to be a second ACC team?

That's the way that I kind of look at it. Alright, this is that Gilb Show on the Infinity Sports Network. We'll take a time out. We'll come on back. We'll talk some Seahawks as they're doing a nice job of that NFC West. We'll also get an opinion on Russell Wilson right now with the Pittsburgh Steelers. We will chat a little Alabama and also the return of the back.

And I'm talking about the running back in the NFL with Saquon Barkley and also Derrick Henry and their dominance. Sean Alexander, the former NFL MVP, Seahawks legend is going to join us when we come on back in five minutes. Alrighty, Zach Gilb Show, Infinity Sports Network. Every time I bring on my next guest, I say that he should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and I'm very mad that that has not happened yet.

That is the former NFL MVP. Sean Alexander is doing a great job right now with my cause, Mike Cleats, with the Stand Together Foundation and also has his own award named after him, the Sean Alexander Award, which we'll get to in just a bit. Sean, Thanksgiving good. How you been? Man, how you doing, brother? Things going well?

Yeah, I can't complain. How many kids do you have once again? You have like 11 or 12 kids, right? Twelve. Nine girls, three boys, no twins, lots of hard work.

How the heck do you guys do Thanksgiving? It's wild, you know, and one of my closest friends, they have seven. And so people always say, oh, hey, are y'all all going to come over? Y'all gonna do it?

Sean, how's it going? And I'm like, look, we start off with a seven, they're nine, we're at 14. So we already start off with 20, you know, 23 people right out the gate, you know? So it's wild. Makes it easy for a flag football game. You got enough numbers, right?

Sure. No, that definitely does happen. It's funny you say that. But yeah, they'll hit the yard and they're all in, girls and boys.

It's intense. When was the last time you played football? Just wondering, like, did you play some flag football these days? Are you running around smoking people?

You know what? I probably played maybe four years ago at one of our friends' house. They own a bed and breakfast and they have a bunch of people come over to play. And I jumped out there and played with them. And for a minute there, I wanted to be old man, duh, duh, duh, and kind of give people all the business. And I could tell like, ooh, I'm gonna be really sore tomorrow.

And we're playing flag, but I'm still, I'm not gonna let anybody know. And so after the first couple of runs, I was like, oh, I'm just gonna have to take it easy on y'all. But really, I felt like, ooh, things was tightening up. So it was great.

Love it. Sean Alexander here with us. I know you're still very close with Russell Wilson. It looked like his career was pretty much over with, with the way that it has played out the last two years. And now he's had this resurgence with the Pittsburgh Steelers after missing the first few weeks of the season.

Just how about what your buddy Russ has been doing with the terrible towels now? You know, so proud of him. He's been unwavering about his best days were not just over, you know what I mean?

That he still had, had a couple more shots and a couple more bullets in the gun. And so, so proud of him. His resilience has been amazing. His mindset was really, really just awesome that he was going to go do it again.

And, you know, football, as physical as it is, it's still really mental. And I feel like, you know, in Denver, they just didn't set the stage for anybody to really believe in him. From the first game of the season against the Seahawks, them trying to kick a 60-yarder to win.

When we seen him in that stadium, drive the ball down in minutes to win the game and do it. And so that just set a very bad thing. And then, you know, a new coach comes in and they just didn't get along.

And that just is what it is. But, you know, Coach Payton has the kind of guy that he wants. He's always been like that. If he gets the guy, he does well. So, you know, he's got both Knicks now. They're looking like a good football team. Russell's with a coach that really believes in him, which you see what he does when he has that kind of coach. So it's, you know, they both found the right fits.

Let me get to your former football team, the Seattle Seahawks. They've surprised a lot of people. You knew they had talent. You knew they'd be right around 500.

You can't go 500 anymore if you tie it, but you get what I'm saying. But there was some uncertainty this year with the new coach coming on in, McDonald over from the Ravens. And right now with the way the 49ers have fallen, they're on top of that division.

What are you thinking? Like, how far can the Seahawks go this year in your opinion? You know, Seattle's always had this thing as well. I would say from the time I got there, Seattle before I got there was a couple of superstars, quarterback that's a little bit better than normal, maybe one offensive guy. But they want to run the ball and play defense.

I got to go there and be there with Coach Holmgren and Hasselback. And we did the same thing, unknown defense. And we got to the Super Bowl, won the division five years ago, playoffs five years in a row, you know. Well, then you take Russell and Marshawn, they get there and they put the cherry on top. They got this thing called the Legion of Booms, and that was a name defense, but still the same thing. Run the ball, they played when the quarterback needs to.

You're seeing glimpses of that again. Phenomenal defensive backfield, hard-nosed, up-front guys that played on defense. They run the ball, Kenneth Walker's a good running back. Geno Smith is going to put the ball in the right place. They've got great receivers, you know what I mean? And so this one of those teams that if the ball just bounces right, you know, in the playoffs, no one really takes a day off. But if the ball bounces right, they could upset somebody. And next thing you know, they're in the NFC Championship game. It happens that quickly. I'm excited because anytime you get to play Seattle in a home game in the playoffs, it's usually good for us.

You know, so I'm not scared to say that we could shock a lot of people because we have what it takes. Good defense, run the ball, control the clock. If Geno doesn't turn the ball over, look out. Sean Alexander here with us. I know you just saw the Seahawks play the Jets. Rogers turned 41 the other day. He's clearly banged up, but even before he was banged up, he wasn't playing well this season. You just think it's time for Aaron to walk away and hang him up at the end of the season?

You know, I remember when Aaron got in, you know, and Brett Favre was still the quarterback and I had conversations and we knew some people that, so I got to hang out with young Aaron and I had talked to him in years. I just know he's a fighter and I know that it's also hard to quit. You know what I mean?

So I never want to let people leave without leaving that kind of way. I just know that Aaron playing like this is not the way he would want to leave and so he's going to be in a tough situation because it doesn't look like he's playing well and I'm not sure if he's got anything left for him to go prove. So, you know, so it's going to be hard for him. Talking to Sean Alexander, the former NFL MVP, the running back position the last few years took a big hit. We've seen a resurgence this year, especially with Derrick Henry going to the Ravens. What Saquon Barkley is doing with the Philadelphia Eagles, just your thoughts on what has happened this year with the running back position as now everyone's looking at it in a positive way once again.

Well, you know, that's how it's going to be. It was the running quarterback, then it was the Ford pass, then it was give the ball to the tailback. You got the Marcus Ellis, Jim Browns, Eric Dickerson. You know, you're all the way up to, you get to me and LaDana and then Adrian Peterson, then it started kind of just dripping down a little bit. I felt like it was because they were paying coaches so much money. They felt like if you turn around and hand the ball to the running back, they're not really earning their pay.

But they are, you know what I mean? So they got all these quarterbacks and throwing it. But what happened is the 6'1 guys like me, six foot, 6'1, 225, those guys were not being used because they were moving to play defense because you're getting these 5'9 guys that were scattering. So you had to put the guys like my size to go play outside linebacker to go tackle those guys. And now what you're going to see is the 6'1, 225, 220 guys come back to running the ball and you're going to now have issues with defense because they don't have the weight to come stop good running teams.

And you're going to see it come back and forth. So teams are going to go back and forth with this, but it's just great football. And I know you won an MVP, Sean Alexander. The last non quarterback to win the MVP or running back to win the MVP was Adrian Peterson back in 2012. I think Josh Allen's going to win the MVP because it's become a quarterback award and there's a case to be made. But do you feel as if it should go to Saquon Barkley? I would say Saquon's on pace to have the best running back season ever.

That's Eric Dickerson. I mean, if you do that, you deserve it. You know, so I just think that the running back position is so hard to be great in. You know what I mean? Like, so you can be good and people can say, hey, get three yards, you know, move the chains and it just be a job.

But the great ones, they do stuff that it's just hard to get to. You know what I mean? And what happened is, is there was a chain in my generation from the Emmits and Marcus's from the 80s to the 90s to me and LaDainian and then the Adrian Petersons that we made it look really common. You got, you know, Sean McCoy, you know what I mean? Like, he was doing amazing things, but by the time it got to him, it looked normal.

You know what I mean? And so there's going to be guys that just weren't going to get the credit of dominating football as a running back. And when you see it now, everyone's like, wow, look at that.

I'm like, no, that's what the great ones look like. And so I think that it's going to come back again. And I think that I think it's going to be hard for Saquon to get it. But I think that he would be deserving, especially if his numbers stay the same.

Does it annoy you, though? Because it does feel as if offensive player of the year goes to the best non quarterback on the offensive side of the ball. The MVP just goes to the quarterback, at least since it happened with AP back in 2012. Yeah, you know, it is it is kind of weird because, you know, if you get a good quarterback, it could open up the run. But if you get a good running back, the quarterback really could not be as great.

You know, and he's still gonna look pretty darn good. You know, I mean, it's so, you know, I just think that both of the positions are special. And I think that you should not take one away. I think because the quarterback calls to play, sometimes he gets a little more of the credit because that's a that's a weighty responsibility. But it should not be the MVP should not just be the quarterback. How frustrating has it been this year to watch Jayla Milro? Because there's some games where Alabama, he looks like he can't be stopped. And there's some games, you look at Oklahoma, you look at Tennessee, where he's just absolutely lost. So give me a thought or two on your alma mater's quarterback.

You know, I love Jayla Milro. I love Coach DeBora. I've been able to talk with him, you know, since he's been in and I just feel like the newness of new coaches is it has a weight just people just don't want to give any of that of that growth for Alabama. And Coach DeBora, I think, you know, I think the shock of how good you have to be every week in the SEC is something that every coach has to get used to, especially being in Alabama. And Coach DeBora is the he is the he has the best record out of every first time first time coach in Alabama in the history.

And we still feel like this is yucky. I'm like, wait, he you know, they get into this tournament, we might shock everybody, you know, because he's really good in big game situations. Like I think that's his best trait is that if you put a big game situation in front of him, he has the offense just churning and burning. And so I think that we're in a good place.

I know he's a great recruiter. I know that there's no replacing coach Nick Saban, but I think that we did really good with what we got. I think Milrose is is just the the results of new coach, new system, newness of a game and trying to figure it out.

But he's fabulous. I believe you run the ball with your running back and then you run it with your quarterback. I think we kind of got caught into that, like, oh, just run the quarterback and it'll work.

But I feel like they've got it figured out now. We're going to be OK. You know what it's like to have one of these out of the world types of seasons. What you see Ashton Gente doing at Boise State with over twenty two hundred rushing yards and twenty eight rushing touchdowns, still has a conference championship game to play coming up on Friday. Just what have you seen from Ashton Gente when you've been able to watch him? I think Ashton is special. I just I think he's amazing.

I was amazed when I saw what he was doing. But then even when you seem like in these games, I'm going to really enjoy the conference championship, but then even more when he gets into the tournament, because there'll be some plays that he will have to make to even be able to play in the tournament. But I think he's going to make them. I think he's going to he's going to solidify his name as one of the best college running backs ever, even more than we understand. Do you think he'll win the Heisman or do you think it goes to Travis Hunter? That's why I think it's between those two.

Yeah, it is between them, too. I think Travis is still going to win, though. I've just been amazed because Travis is not just playing like nickel and then wide receiver. He's not playing corner. And then every now and then comes in as the third third third receiver for this. He is like on the field the whole game. And he is just dominant. He he cuts off half the field for Colorado on defense and then you get in the red zone and he's going to make the play to score touchdowns. You know, you get a guy like that. That's special.

And yeah, he's so I just think that his amount amount of time on the field, you just can't take that away from him. All right. I know you're doing a ton of great work right now. My cause, my cleats with the Stand Together Foundation, also the award that you had, the Sean Alexander Award.

The floor is yours. Tell me everything we got cooking. Yeah, my cause, my cleats stand together, you know, by eight hundred fifty of the of the greatest businessmen, women and philanthropic leaders in the country. Put their times, talents and strategies together, go help people and tackle some of the country's biggest issues. It's been fun this year, pulling some of the great athletes in the NFL.

Pulling some of the greatest donors and business leaders and then pulling some of the people are doing just great work in communities, pulling them all together to shine light and help impact communities. It's been just wonderful. And then the freshman play of the year.

It's just it's going great. We are about to announce the top five here pretty soon. We've got another great group of five athletes.

I mean, our FAB 14 was amazing. But this top five is just fun watching these kids grow 18, 19 years old and 17. Great athletes playing at high levels. And I've been honored to just be able to kind of share life with them, be able to speak life into them, encourage them.

Some of them have become like a mentor to and and and watch them through their careers. And I've been so, so proud of of Drake May and Brock Bowers. They won two and three years ago, you know, still watching Will Anderson kill it. Kenneth Gaines. Well, Trevor Lawrence was our first child under freshman player of the year, you know. So, you know, of course, praying for him with his injury. But just watching these six guys, Caleb Downs was the sixth winner. You know, he's now at Ohio State. Just watching these boys mature and grow has been fun.

And then even the relationships I have with some of the guys that were finalists that didn't that didn't win. It's an honor to watch these guys with great character, being ambassador to the university, raw talent and just just getting better and better. You turn that light on, you turn the film on and you're like, these boys are amazing on the field. But helping them become even better on the field and even better than that off the field, it's just been a lot of fun. And, you know, we are clearly, you know, we've seen great freshmen before in college football. But now more than ever, when Saban was at Alabama, it was all right, you're a freshman. You'll probably end up really, they'll play in your junior year because they had so many all Americans in front and development. But now with the transfer portal, how easy it is to leave these freshmen, they get their opportunities right away now. Yeah, you know, Alabama was already moved in that way a couple of years back because they knew that if they got the talent there, it was going to invite more talent. The thing I hate is I am seeing a little bit of kids leaving and not really having a landing spot. So I've been trying to encourage a lot of players and their families, you know, don't leave once you got one, you know, because that's the worst thing is you see a kid that's developing that's going to be pretty good his junior senior year. He leaves after his freshman year.

He's not quite there yet as a sophomore and no one takes a shot on him. And he ends up, you know, not being anywhere. So I don't really love the transfer portal. I love NIL.

I don't really love the transfer portal because I'm seeing more kids that they're not talking about, losing every lose everything instead of going to another team and going well, you know, when you hear the stories that are great, then they're just great. But that's far a few compared to the ones that don't end up being great. He's a man that should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I hope one day we could refer to him as a Pro Football Hall of Famer. He's the great Sean Alexander. Sean, always great to catch up.

Thanks for doing it. No doubt, man. One day, man. One day. You know, I got my fingers crossed.

I hope so. There he is. Sean Alexander joining us on the show. Once again, make sure you check out all the great work that he does with the Sean Alexander award.

And also my cause, my cleats with the Stand Together Foundation. All right. We will take a time out when we come on back. It is a Tuesday. We'll keep it moving. We got superstar shout outs to get to an NFL player, an NFL coach, a college football player and a college coach that we'll get to when we come on back in a few moments.

Update time first. Here is the act man, Rich Ackerman. Yo, yo.

It's the Zach Gelb show. The defensive player of the week is sponsored by the Navy Federal Credit Union, who proudly serves the armed forces, DOD, veterans and their families. Our members are the mission.

Learn more at NavyFederal.org. This week's player is Chargers cornerback Tarheeb Still in L.A.'s 17-13 win over the Falcons on Sunday. Still had two interceptions, including a 61-yard pick six that gave the Chargers the lead in the third quarter. I actually, on Saturday night, exchanged a few text messages with the coach of the Chargers in Jim Harbaugh as I sent him a message about the Michigan game up against, obviously, Ohio State. And he responded back in talking about just the victory up against Ohio State.

Pull it down. Great job by the men in blue today. Legendary achievement with one, two, three, four exclamation mark. So good that Jim Harbaugh saw Michigan win on Saturday and now off into the pros. He's got a team that should make the playoffs. You could get three AFC West teams in the playoffs that's looking like Stu. You got the Chiefs. You got the Chargers. You got the Broncos.

And then... Nowhere to be found. Where are your Raiders?

Yeah, nowhere to be found. Everyone's getting their damn act together. You need Chador Sanders. You need a quarterback. You need either Chador Sanders or Cam Ward and then you try to start your franchise into getting back into respectability and just hope that both those quarterbacks at least read the playbook. Unlike the last time you guys picked a quarterback really early in the draft with Jamarcus Russell. Right, that was the last time you guys took a quarterback early in the draft. Yeah, Carr was a second-round pick and everyone else was crap drafted or signed or whatever, yeah. Shouldn't have been on the team.

Yeah, there's been a lot of those. If you guys picked a quarterback two or quarterback three and said they were starting for the Raiders. Alrighty, let's get to some superstar shout-outs. Another week in the books. Who stood out on the gridiron? We give you our superstar shout-outs right here on the Zach Gelb Show.

Alrighty, Stu. There could have been 15 players we could have shouted out this week in college football. I don't know who you're going with so I'll let you go first and then I will fill in the blanks. Right, it's a little bit of a homer pick but I'm going with two players. The two-headed monster of Notre Dame's rushing attack. And that is Jeremiah Love and De'Jaren Price. Just both really good against USC. Both had around 100 yards rushing. And as a team Notre Dame is fourth in rushing yards. Obviously Riley Leonard being a running quarterback helps that as well.

But the running game has been elite and they need to continue doing that to have success. How about in that game by the way? When you said two players I thought you were going with the defenders. One had a 99 yard pick six and then the next drive Xavier Watts had a 100 yard pick six. That's crazy.

It was insane. Alrighty, there's about 3,000 options we could have gone with. I could have looked at the defensive line for Michigan with Kenneth Grant and Mason Graham. I could have maybe said alright Shadore Sanders and Travis Hunter. I could have looked at Jalen Milro. I could have looked at Ashton Genti. I could have looked at the wheels of one Arch Manning.

There was a lot and I mean a lot of options. Kyle McCord. A lot of guys I could have picked from. Sampson the Tennessee running back as well. Dylan Sampson he's been unbelievable. Curtis Rourke had a big game.

Six touchdowns up against Purdue. But the player I'm going to go with was a man who was a walk on at Georgia. And he wasn't a preferred walk on. He showed up said Kirby Smart I want to walk on to the football team.

Kirby said sure. And look what he's done so far. That's the linebacker in Dan Jackson. And what he did this weekend when Haynes King probably was going to be a superstar shout out with what he did. Rushing the football and then throwing the ball 110 rushing yards on the ground through rushing touchdowns 303 passing yards and two passing touchdowns. But that game changed when Dan Jackson popped out that football and then I think it was in the sixth overtime he was able to sack Haynes King. So a man that was a walk on and a no name a few years ago Dan Jackson all he does is win and all he does is make big plays for Georgia. OK still I'll continue to let you go first. Give me your college football coach.

All right. In the big game the game there are two coaches. Yeah. One coach looked totally lost and that was Ryan Day and other coach Sharon Moore. He just looked composed obviously 7 to 5 isn't a great season by any stretch but you beat Ohio State.

That matters so much. I just think for for them that's a big building block and you know obviously they'll be back in the next year or two to being one of those elite programs again. And also give a shout out to Wink Martindale leaving the Giants is the best thing for his career. Look what he's done with the Michigan Wolverines.

All right. My shout out. I love this guy. I knew him when he was at Temple on the coaching staff. We used to have a lot of long talks.

He's just an entertaining dude. You knew one day that he was going to become a head coach and that's Fran Brown at Syracuse. They're 9 and 3. Wonderful season for Syracuse. They were down 21 points to Miami. They came on back and they won the game 42 to 38 to see the way that he's empowered. Kyle McCord's been really cool. Got a good coaching staff with Elijah Robinson, Jeff Nixon. But all the credit in the world to Fran Brown who you'll hear from later because he gave an audio gem to the legendary Jim Rome the franchise when he was on Jim's program the other day.

So we'll play that later. But Fran Brown right now gets a shout out. All righty. Stu take us to your NFL player.

All right. My NFL player is Bucks running back Bucky Irving. He had one hundred and fifty two yards on twenty five carries and the touchdown in the Bucks win over the Panthers on Sunday. And among rookie running backs, he's first in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, receptions, receiving yards and yards per carry. A really good rookie here for him.

And now we're becoming a Jim Rome infomercial because he was up with Rome today. So there you go. Russell Wilson. My shout out this week. Twenty nine to thirty eight for four hundred and fourteen yards, three touchdowns and a pick Steelers nine and three. Nine and three after they put up a ton of points. Forty four to thirty eight over the dreadful, pathetic, lethargic, terrible defensive football team in the Cincinnati Bengals who are offensive.

When you look at their defense, it's offensive with them sitting at a four and eight record. But Russell Wilson gets my shout out for this week. All right, coach, let's go. My NFL coach is Kevin O'Connell of the 10 and two Minnesota Vikings. I don't think there's ever been a 10 and two team that's been talked about or respected less than the Vikings. But they have had a great season with Sam Darnold, a quarterback, and they continue to get wins. Another comeback win against the Cardinals on Sunday.

I got to give it up. I told you that Tarheeb still had that interception and that pick six. I'm taking a look right now at this Chargers defense. I'm going to coordinator. Stu did it last week.

I'll do it this week. Jesse Minter, first time coordinator in the NFL. They have the fewest amount of points allowed in the NFL.

I think it's like 15 or 16 points per game for this Chargers defense. It has been unbelievable to watch. And Jesse Minter was one of those guys that he's coming over from Harbaugh's staff.

And you're going to see what was going to happen. He has been an absolute home run as the defensive coordinator. And it would not surprise me if he gets a head coaching job this year. He may be still a year away, but when your defense is only allowing 15.7 points per game to be exact. And you also have Jim Harbaugh, who's who's going to be hyping you up. Right. Who's got it better than us?

Nobody. Jesse Minter, whether it's this offseason or next offseason, he's going to find a way to be a head coach in the NFL one day. So those are the superstar shout outs for this week. It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network.

You can always give us a call 855 212 42 27 855 212 42 27. We'll take a time out when we come on back. We're going to get back into the college football. We got the committee is going to have their penultimate rankings tonight. I told you earlier that I have Oregon, Texas, SMU, Boise State on buys Penn State up against Arizona State in the 512. Notre Dame up against Alabama, 611. Georgia up against Indiana in the 710. Ohio State up against Tennessee in the 8 9. That's what I think is going to shake on out tonight. But when we do return, I have two questions from this past weekend in college football. One has to do with Ohio State and the other has to do with the future of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, which we may become Notre Dame Fighting Irish fans on this show because Stu, we want to see him actually be happy. The Raiders don't make him happy. Notre Dame has been able to make him happy this season with a good time to continue to roll to find out.