Deshaun Watson FINISHED (Hour 3)

All right, it is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. Let's just have a quick conversation before we get back to the college football and that conversation is about Deshaun Watson. If the Cleveland Browns have him as their starting quarterback next year, there's Dumb and then there's the Cleveland Browns. John Fanta said this, friend of the show, does a great job, college basketball insider. He is a diehard Cleveland Browns fan and he said this, pretty much you're paying him the money either way. It's a guaranteed deal.

You made the mistake. It doesn't mean that you keep on having the need to run him out and play when he is healthy. We know he's done for the season, suffered a season-ending injury. You go back to 2020, that was the last time we saw Deshaun Watson look like a top seven, a top eight quarterback in this league. I know Jameis Winston has been a turnover machine, but at least Jameis Winston puts up touchdowns, at least he scored some points, and at least he puts up some high passing yards. Now, I'm not sitting here and saying Jameis Winston needs to be your guy next year, but even just look at Joe Flacco who could do nothing in the last two games he played for the Indianapolis Colts this year, he led that Browns team to the postseason last year. So I look at Deshaun Watson, the odds of him ever being a success in Cleveland are zero.

They're zero. He has two years left on this deal. When the contract's up, you're not giving him an extension. And I don't even know if Deshaun Watson would be able to latch on somewhere else, because there's one thing when you do a lot of wrong off the field that if you're not in a jail cell and people still think you could be good, they will give you a chance. There's a reason why, even with all the allegations and all the ugliness that occurred off the field with Deshaun Watson, why he was still given an opportunity to play in this league and why a team gave him a guaranteed contract. It's because there's desperate teams in the NFL. The toughest position there is in sports is the quarterback.

And even if you are a horrible human being, if you're not in a jail cell, if you're not in a jail cell, people will look past that and people will still cheer for you as long as you hold up your end of the bargain. Well, Deshaun Watson in Cleveland was out for most of the first season because of the suspension, played the final six games, didn't look all that great. Then last year he got hurt. But even before he got hurt, he wasn't playing great. And then this year it was once again another make or break season and he wasn't playing great. He looked lost at times and he once again got hurt. So we're now looking at, he was out for all of 2021, the most of 2022, got injured in 2023 and got injured in 2024. Even if he could play well again, why do I think he'll ever be able to be healthy again for an entirety of a season? And I don't think, I used to say Deshaun Watson could never be great again, but maybe he could be good.

I don't even think we're at a point where Deshaun Watson could be good again. So I look at the Browns, you have a decision to make. Do you continue to trot out next year this cancer? Or do you just say, hey, we're going to cut our losses.

We own the money anyway. It was a terrible decision, one of the worst trades, one of the worst contracts in NFL history, and we're going to move on. Or even if he's on the roster, he's going to be a backup quarterback because Deshaun doesn't have a leg to stand on anymore. Is there a team in the NFL right now that would go give this guy a legit NFL contract?

No. Like if he became available, especially with all the money that he's owed, look at Russell Wilson. And he had, Russell Wilson playing really good football right now, but Russell Wilson had to take a vet minimum.

And that's a guy in all likelihood is going to the hall of fame. Stu, I'll throw this out there to you. Let's say the Raiders win a few games this year, but let's say they win a few games down the stretch of their next five. They play themselves out of Chador Sanders or Cam Ward. Would you take Deshaun Watson on a million and a half dollar deal for one year? No. You wouldn't even take him.

No. And that's a Raider fan who has not had a quarterback, a great quarterback in a long, long, long time. And I don't think you're wrong because the juice isn't worth the squeeze with Deshaun Watson on the field.

Just not. And I know some people will say, oh, well, all those terrible things happened off the field. Why did they even give that contract in Cleveland?

You have every right to feel that way. I'm just telling you the business of the NFL. We have seen players abuse women. We have seen players murder. We have seen players kill people drinking and driving as long as they're not in a jail cell and they have talent.

Teams give them chances. The problem with Deshaun Watson right now from a football standpoint is he's not talented anymore. And even Jamis Winston is a turnover machine.

He still looks better. Jamis Winston threw three interceptions last night. He also threw for 497 passing yards and four passing touchdowns. So even the average quarterbacks, even the backup quarterbacks that get chances to start look better than Deshaun Watson. You can't even tell me Deshaun Watson is a top 32 quarterback in the league right now.

So Cleveland, you tried him out next year. If I was Miles Garrett and I know that Miles Garrett defended Deshaun Watson when he got hurt and the fans and all that ridiculousness that did occur. But if I'm Miles Garrett and Deshaun Watson starting quarterback next year, I'm saying, what are we doing?

And I want to trade. And if you stay in Cleveland, it's just stupidity because then you're never going to be able to win. Deshaun Watson is no longer a winner. Deshaun Watson is no longer a good quarterback.

And the Browns who are synonymous with making incompetent decision after incompetent decision, this would be the ultimate incompetence if you still say, okay, he's our guy next year. There's no reason. You already are paying the money. The investment already was not a good one.

It will never be viewed as a good one. So stop chasing it. And either just make him your backup next year or you cut ties completely, which probably you would have to do. And either you're drafting a quarterback because I don't want him getting mentored by Deshaun Watson or you're signing a quarterback or you trade him for a quarterback.

But you can't go into next year saying Deshaun Watson is going to be the starting quarterback or eventually when he gets healthy, we're going to intend for him to be the starting quarterback. You would just be doubling down and you'd be quadrupling down. Forget doubling and tripling, you'd be quadrupling down at this stage. It'd be like when I first started playing blackjack, you know, when I was in college and you got a few drinks in your system and you had the blackjack table and you're winning some money, then you're losing your money. And then you go, oh, do I go to the ATM? I just lost 50 bucks or I just lost a hundred bucks. Do I take out the hundred again and just throw it down on one hand? You've already done that now three times. You've already lost the money. Stop going to the ATM.

All right. This is not going to get better. You're chasing, you're chasing, you're chasing.

And when you chase, you're going to continue to lose. Stop the Deshaun Watson experiment. And even though Jamis was a turnover machine last night, there's at least some moment where you could praise him in this game. He had nearly 500 passing yards and still had four passing touchdowns against a solid Broncos defense.

So I would just say this to Cleveland. You tried to give him another chance this year. He wasn't playing well. The injury then bails him out for us talking about the poor play. The poor play was still there. His body is now broken.

His confidence is shot. And the dude is just for a guy that was one of the best quarterbacks in college. And for a guy that played really well in Houston, even though it didn't always translate to wins, that guy isn't walking through the door ever again. So just because you owe him money doesn't mean you are compelled to play him. Doesn't mean you have to play him. You've got to pay him.

You don't got to play him. And if your plan next year is to play Deshaun Watson week one, that's why the Browns is the Browns, as they would say. Alrighty. College football playoff rankings are coming out later tonight. The penultimate rankings, we will have the final rankings come out on Sunday after conference championship weekend.

I said earlier that there are a few questions tonight. I'm usually just the bracket guy for these. And then the final rankings, you know, the bracket is obviously the most important. But tonight is the first time where I'm saying, okay, I actually care about the rankings before we see the bracket, because I'm curious how they're going to rank the SEC teams, because right now, three SEC teams automatically are going to get in Georgia, Texas, Tennessee.

I don't care what happens between Texas and Georgia in the SEC championship game. Texas and Georgia both getting in Tennessee's already in. Is there a way for a fourth SEC team to get squeezed in?

Whether it's reflected on that tonight or not on the bracket is one thing. But how Bama, South Carolina and Ole Miss will be ranked is going to be fascinating, because that will give you the answer on which team currently the committee views right now. If we're not going to see two ACC teams get in or something plays out where there's an opportunity for a fourth AC for a fourth SEC team to get in, who do they prefer?

So that's one thing to look for. The other thing is tonight, how many ACC teams do get in? Clemson is going to take us a drop back tonight.

I do not think they'll be on the bracket. Last week, you look at Clemson. They were in front of Alabama. Clemson just lost to South Carolina.

They're going to fall. So I do not anticipate South or Clemson being on the bracket tonight. However, Clemson can make the final bracket if they beat SMU this weekend in the ACC championship game. I'm also curious where they're going to rank SMU, because if SMU has some cushion tonight and they'll be the three seed, they'll have a buy, but where will their ranking be? Because if SMU has some cushion, SMU could afford to lose the ACC championship game and still make the college football playoff. And the other thing I'm fascinated by, Ohio State, the last few weeks when these rankings come out, they've been penciled in on that fifth spot on the bracket. They've been two, they've been three in terms of the rankings, but after losing this past weekend to Michigan and Oregon Wright was their long loss at the time in front of them, which is a good loss, even though you lost by one and it was terrible fashion how you lost that game with Will Howard and Ryan Day just being buffoons at the end of that game.

Well, how far are you going to fall tonight? And I do think Ohio State's going to fall to eighth on the bracket tonight, but Ohio State is going to become Oregon fans in the Big Ten championship game because Ohio State, if they were the eighth seed right now in the bracket, they would get the ninth seed. I think that's going to be Tennessee tonight. And then you would play the winner that gets the one seed, which would be Oregon.

So if that's the case and that holds, that's a tough road. But if you're Ohio State, the reason why you're going to root for Penn State is you beat Penn State this year. So if Penn State loses in the Big Ten championship game, they're going to fall.

You're going to move up to like, do you, you would probably say they would move up. I would think them Penn State would, you could move up to seven, six. I don't think you're going to get five because if Penn State loses, Notre Dame would probably shift to five. And if you get to six or seven, well, then you avoid the one seed.

If you get to six, you would play 11 and then three. If you get to seven, you play the 7-10 matchup, which, you know, Indiana could be 10, and then you'd have to beat Texas if they win the SEC. You know, Texas is a good program. I know Texas just beat Texas A&M.

I'm still wondering if Texas is just very good or if they're good or if they could be elite this year. So I'm curious to see how far Ohio State does fall tonight. When it's all said and done, and I was late in the lab last night, a little bit of delay before I got into the lab, but I started testing out all these college football playoff scenarios.

This is what I came up with. This is what I think the committee will do tonight. Oregon, just talk in bracket. Oregon will be one.

Texas will be two. SMU will get a buy in a three. Boise State will be in a four on a buy.

Those are the four buys tonight. Then I think eight-nine matchup. Ohio State will be eight. Tennessee will be nine. I think after tonight, Penn State would be five. Arizona State would be 12. I think Notre Dame's going to be six. Alabama's going to be 11. I do think Alabama's going to make the bracket tonight. Because Clemson losing, even though Clemson can still get in with the win up against SMU, but Clemson's in South Carolina, that's going to elevate the SEC here. And even though you can make a case that South Carolina played Alabama tomorrow, they beat them, or Ole Miss, if they played Alabama tomorrow, they beat them because of the inconsistencies with Jalen Milro, I still think the committee is going to rank Alabama in front of South Carolina and Alabama in front of Ole Miss. So I think you'll have Notre Dame six and Alabama 11 and then Georgia seven, Indiana 10.

That's the way that I look at it. Stu, if I'm going to get one wrong tonight on this bracket, what do you think is the most likely thing that I'm going to get wrong? When you look at Oregon one, Texas two, SMU three, Boise State four getting buys, the matchups in the first round, Ohio State eight, Tennessee nine, Penn State five, Arizona State 12, Georgia seven, Indiana 10, Notre Dame six, Alabama 11. Is there anything that maybe jumps out to you, Stu, where you go, hmm, you may be regretting that tonight that you didn't flip flop those teams? I think the only thing could be something like in the past couple where it's just like something like Ohio State's nine and Tennessee's eight.

But other than that, I don't see any crazy major, like I don't think it's going to be Arizona State four and Boise 12. Could Arizona State be in front of Alabama tonight where they put them 11 and they put Alabama 12? I don't think so.

Yeah, that's the one. I don't think they would do that. Obviously, this is what I think is going to happen. So now I'm second guessing myself on what I think is going to happen. But I think if we see Bama 12, Arizona State 11, I guess that could be the one, but I really do think Bama's going to be 11, Arizona State's going to be 12. And really, you look at the bracket, Ohio State's making it either way, Tennessee's making it either way, Oregon's making it either way, Penn State's making it either way, Georgia is in, Indiana's in, Notre Dame is in, Texas is in.

The question just becomes, SMU, Clemson, do you get two or do you get one? If Clemson beats SMU, I still think SMU should go, that would kick Alabama out. Now, am I fully confident SMU loses that Alabama still won't get in?

That's a different conversation. However, if Clemson loses, SMU we know is in and then it opens up the door for Alabama. And then it just comes down to does Boise State take care of business up against UNLV? And if they do, then Boise State is in, if they don't, I think UNLV would go and then clearly whoever wins the Big 12 as well. So there's some teams set in stone, Ohio State, Tennessee, Oregon, Penn State, Texas, Georgia, Indiana, Notre Dame. Those are the eight teams that are set in stone, they're definitely in. The others, they still need some things to happen this weekend.

There's a few that you feel good about and a few that there's some questions that still remain. 855-212-4227, 855-212-4227. Let's go to Adrian in Maryland. Yo, Adrian, what's happening?

Yo, Zach, what's going on, big guy? Hey, I got a couple of predictions for you. I actually think, SMU, I think they're locked in.

They're already in, they're just wherever they, whatever, no matter if they win or lose, they're in no matter what I think. As far as the prediction, I actually think Penn State and Georgia are going to win. Penn State plays the same kind of ball that Wisconsin played and Oregon had trouble with Wisconsin coming, basically coming, I guess a couple hours from where they are to play that game. I actually think Penn State's going to win that game.

I know you hate Penn State. Do you think they should be the number one, you think they should be the number one seed seed? If they beat Oregon, yeah.

I think the winner of the Big Ten Championship game would be the number one seed on the bracket. Now, I will say that Wisconsin game, you're at Camp Randall, you know, you haven't lost the game yet. There's always a game that it feels like, or it looks like it's a letdown with these great teams and they find a way to pull it out. So I'm not going to do too much analysis there over the Oregon-Wisconsin game.

I was surprised how close though that game was. Here's the thing with Penn State. It comes down to the coach and it comes down to the quarterback. They have the best tight end to the country. Abdul Carter is easily a guy that I think should be a top five pick. He will be a top ten pick. He's a phenomenal defensive player, but their coach, James Franklin, is allergic to winning these games and Oregon's been the number one team in the country. So that's something to monitor. And then Drew Aller, there's times where the second half up against USC, he's rolling.

Then there's some other games where it's like, what the heck is this guy doing? So it's all going to be, can the coach and the quarterback be ready for the big moment, in my opinion, Adrian? I've watched Oregon and they haven't impressed me at all. I don't think they've been impressed. Well, they're undefeated. Yeah, but still, like you said with the Chiefs, they're 11 and 1, but they didn't impress you.

I just don't like their physicality in some of the games that they played. Like I said, they played against Wisconsin. Wisconsin probably should have won that game. They should have won that game.

I didn't like the offense. Also, Georgia already beat Texas. Why can't we say Georgia's going to beat Texas and why we keep putting Texas at that number two seed?

Well, that's just with how it works right now. These are my rankings and what I think is going to be tonight. I do agree with you that Georgia is going to win the SEC Championship. I do think, I think the game means more for Texas because that would be their moment. We've arrived in the SEC. We get the revenge up against Georgia year one. People said, oh, we should have stayed in the Big 12. We win the SEC.

And thanks for the phone call, Adrian. But I do think Georgia is going to win the game. Both of these teams are in either way.

It's just going to be which one does get the buy. But if I look at the lines early and I just give you a little Tuesday feel here early. First reaction. You look at Arizona State, Iowa State.

Oh boy. Arizona State's a two and a half point favorite. Man, I would have thought Arizona State was going to win that game.

I now see that spread. I kind of like Iowa State plus the points. Georgia and Texas. Texas at two. I like Georgia plus the points.

I do. I like Georgia to win that game outright. SMU Clemson. Two and a lot of two and a half point spreads in favor of SMU.

I do like SMU. And then Oregon Penn State is at Oregon line three and a half. I would lay the number with Oregon right now. I would.

It would be very James Franklin like. You back your way into the Big 10 championship. Michigan does your dirty work. They beat Ohio State. And then you somehow win the Big 10 championship.

But I don't think it's the worst thing in the world. I know Oregon fans, right? It's the same thing. You're coming over the Pac-12. You win the Big 10 first year.

That's an accomplishment. Just like what I said about Texas coming over from the Big 12. But for Oregon, I don't think it's the worst thing in the world if you lose the Big 10 championship. Yeah, you lose the bye. You'd be thrown down to the number five spot.

I get that. But if you get thrown down to the number five spot and you look at that draw, first you get a loss out of your system because it's tough when you're undefeated. We've seen teams do it before. But then you get the Big 12 winner and then you already played, let's say Boise State beat UNLV. I know Boise State should have beat you the first time around, but you already played them. That's an easier road when you get the Big 12 winner and then you get probably a non-Power Five Conference champ. Now for Oregon, if you are the one, you get the winner of the 8-9, which is probably going to be a Big 10 up against an SEC school. So I still think you'd rather win it, but it's not the end of the world is what I'm saying for Oregon if you lose the Big 10 championship because the road could be a little bit easier. But if you're Oregon, I don't think you think that way.

That's a loser mentality. You've been the best team in college football all throughout the year. All right, this is Zach Gelb showing the Infinity Sports Network. We will come on back. We'll update some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio. We'll get to a news brief next. Time for your daily news brief. We get you caught up on the rumors, reports and reconnaissance from the day in sports.

All right. So the NFL came down today on Aziz Al-Shaheer. They suspended him three games for that hit on Trevor Lawrence.

Let's get the reaction from Texans coach D'Amico Ryans. Unfortunate hit on the quarterback, but it's also it's twofold, right? I mean, a lot of the quarterbacks in this day and age, they try to take advantage of the rule where they slide late and they try to get an extra yard. And now you're a defender.

A lot of onus is on the defender, right? Whether it's on the sideline or where it's on the quarterback, you don't know what a guy is thinking. You don't know if a guy is standing up and he's continuing to run.

You don't know. And then you get a late slide and you're, you know, you hit the guy. Unfortunately that Trevor got hurt. We want hope Trevor is okay, but it's also if we're sliding, we have to get down. If we're getting out of bounds, we get out of bounds. And that rule is there to protect the quarterbacks. And we want our quarterbacks to be safe in the league.

So we just have to be safe and we're sliding, make sure we're keeping our heads down. You know, Aziz hits the guy, but their sideline overreacts and it turns out and turns into a melee. It wasn't our guys, it's their team overreacted, pushed our guy, dragging our guy to the sideline. So that's uncalled for on that side. We have to be better on the sidelines as well with both teams.

With both teams. So as I've said before, I was at the Pats game. I heard that there was a big commotion about this play. Then I looked at it with the commotion was the first look in real time, looking at the replay.

When I saw not to slow down version, the zoomed in version, I said, huh? You know, it's a bang, bang play, but when you slow it down, yes, it's still a bang, bang play. But where Aziz Al-Shahir is in the wrong is if he didn't lean with that forearm and lunge, yes, it still would have been late, but I don't think he's getting crushed the way that he is.

So that was the problem. That's where it looks really bad is yes, Trevor Lawrence is rolling on watching it right now. And he goes to slide. And when he starts to slide, yeah, Aziz Al-Shahir is a yard and a half to two yards away from him. But he is running full speed and you're getting ready to lower, make a tackle. But it's when you extend that arm.

That's when it ends up being a dirty play. Here is Nick Casario also talking about this situation. What we take umbrage is, is just the paint, the picture that's been painted about Aziz, his intentions, who he is as a person. I mean, it's quite frankly, it's and it's on the and it's unfair to the individual. It's unfair the organization.

So I expected Nick Casario to be fired. You're defending your player. You're not in the right in terms of Aziz Al-Shahir. I don't think it's as egregious as the way that it is being talked about. But did he deserve to be suspended? Yes, he did.

And there is a little history with Aziz Al-Shahir as well. All right, let's go to Zach Tale. The Bengals have been miserable this season. They're 4-8. He takes blame for the bad season. You know, it's I'm not gonna sit here and put this on the players. You know, as a head coach, you sit there and you're 4-8. You're a 4-8 head coach. And that starts with you and to get the most out of everybody. That's my job.

And I don't take that lightly. That's what else he would say. Of course, he's got to take the ownership and he's got to take the responsibility for it. If he didn't, then even more people would be calling for your job. Let's go to Fran Brown, the coach of the Syracuse Orange. He was on the Jim Rome show, our very own Jim Rome show right here on the Infinity Sports Network. And he said Kyle McCord proved Buckeyes fans wrong this year. It was kind of put out as if he was the reason.

So I mean, I guess after watching him win this weekend, and I don't know what happened that piece of, you know, you're seeing the same results again. You can't blame Kyle, correct? You know, so I'm happy that Kyle was able to go and clear his name, come here and show that he's a good quarterback. I got, I got ridiculed for stating that I wanted to send Ryan Day a bottle of champagne where I wasn't being disrespectful.

I was just saying, this guy's the real deal. And you guys let him come in and like, great, thank you. You know, I still owe him. Let's just send him some more.

Just send him a f***ing case, not even a bottle. Excuse my language, but I'm just extremely excited and thankful for Kyle. I love that more and more people are starting to know who Fran Brown is. When he was a young up and coming coach at Temple, we would have a lot of long conversations. And man, that's a dude with a ton of personality. He's awesome. I'm happy for his success.

And he's right. You know, even I was someone last year that I said after their name game where they won that Kyle McCord was not going to beat Michigan. But there's been other quarterbacks to play in this game. And the last four times they've not been able to beat Michigan. They had C.J.

Stroud there. You know, and I thought they could have got Cam Ward this offseason. They ended up going with Will Howard. And you change offensive play callers, too.

Right? They brought in Chip Kelly. But Ryan Day just does not run a team that can beat Michigan right now. And Ryan Day tried to have a game plan with Chip Kelly that was going to be, let's try to win it the way that Michigan has won it the last few years.

Run, run, run, run, run. And you would attack their two best defensive players that were on the field on Saturday with Will Johnson out. You decided to attack Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant. Stupid.

Just absolute stupid decision making. All right, let's go to Carson Beck. We know Georgia is in the SEC championship game. They were in that SC championship game.

They found a way to come back and beat Georgia Tech on Friday night. Then on Saturday, you knew that the winner of Texas, Texas A&M would be in the conference. That'll give you think, all right, Carson Beck is going to be doing some watching of that to see who's going to win and who they're going to play.

Carson Beck, did you watch Texas against Texas A&M on Saturday? I don't watch football. So I know that sounds kind of crazy, but no, I don't, I don't really enjoy watching football.

It's not fun for me. I watch film. So like I'll explain for a second what I mean by that. Like, so if I watch that game, like I'm not just going to be able to sit there and enjoy it.

I'm going to stress myself out the whole entire time. I'm watching the defense. I'm like, okay, why this coverage on this down?

I'm like, well, why did he throw it there against this coverage? Like, you know, and I mean, but you can learn from watching it, but no, it's, it's stressful for me because I don't ever give myself a break whenever it comes to football. But no, I mean, I've watched the film back obviously now afterwards, knowing that we're going to be playing Texas in the SEC championship.

There's a lot of red flags this year with Carson Beck. We've seen on the play and then on the film, on the film and on the field where he's not performed up to par. And then also you hear an answer like that, right?

You say you watch film, but you don't like watching football. Why would you even admit that? And let's just say this.

I don't know if these are true or not. There's some interesting Snapchats going around social media today about Carson Beck and things that he has sent in the past. I'll just leave it at that. But judging what he does on the field this year, I've now been out for two months on Carson Beck as a franchise quarterback in the NFL. Let's go to Kaelin DeBoer, friend of the show, also the head football coach at Alabama.

This is courtesy of ESPN. Hey Kaelin DeBoer, do you guys deserve even with three losses to go to the college football playoff? The wins we have and the day, the week-to-week schedule that we play here in the SEC, I think it's undeniable what that all is. I think they're very deserving that, you know, with what we did, you know, that we're one of those 12 teams. I've been a part of championship teams and know what that looks like and the physicality that we have, the explosiveness we have. We have a defense that won the best in the country and, you know, we're great in critical situations. So just feel like we have all that makeup of being not just a top 12 team, but a team that could win it all.

What else do you expect him to say? I see the Gamecocks are also advocating today on social media. Lane Kiffin has done it as well in terms of why they should make the college football playoff. There's a race for a fourth SEC team. I think Alabama would be the fourth SEC team that gets in if there's an opportunity to get in, but I would expect Kalen DeBoer to say those things. I would expect Shane Beamer to say those things and I would expect also Lane Kiffin to say those things as well.

Of course, you're going to try to be an advocate for your school. Let's go to Dabo Swinney. Clemson, we don't even know they're going to make the college football playoff.

They're the SEC championship game. They got to win to get in, but Dabo Swinney, do you believe your team could end up winning a national championship this year? Why not? Like, why not? I mean, it's just football. We got a bunch of good football players. All you got to do is win the game you're playing.

Why not? I mean, somebody's going to win it, you know? And, you know, we're fortunate enough to win this game. You get a ticket to Willy Wonka's factory, right? You get to go.

You're on the magic elevator, you know, and you get to be in the tournament. Anything can happen. Anything can happen.

I think we were the first 15-0 team, national championship team. Maybe we could be the first three-loss team. Boy, that would upset some people. God, y'all would have to take a bunch of stuff back that y'all say every day. That would really disappoint some people, but why not?

Why not? I have no problem with what he said, but I would respond with this is why Clemson can't win a national championship this year. South Carolina, you just played them in it.

They may not even make the playoff. You lost to them. Lenora Sellers was excellent running the football in that game. And then you played Georgia in week one, and Georgia's had their flaws this year. You lost to them 34-3.

Outside of that, what did you really do? You beat Tennessee State, Florida State. Oh, you lost to Louisville. You beat Pitt. You beat Virginia Tech. You beat the Citadel 51-14.

You win this game. It's a good season. You won the ACC championship, but Dabo is no longer a national championship contender. He's just a contender to win his conference. All right, do me a favor.

Fade down the music here because I have two more audio clips, but I got to get Axe opinions on these two clips. So let me play Rob Manfred, the commissioner of Major League Baseball. This is from October 20th, but it started to pick up momentum this past week. This is on the Varsity Podcast, and this is Rob Manfred floating out the idea of having a golden at bat in Major League Baseball. There are a variety of things that are being talked about out there. One of them, there was a little buzz around at an owner's meeting, was the idea of a golden at bat that is, you know, putting your best player out there out of order at a particular point in the game. That rule and things like that are in the conversation only stage right now. So Ack, I know that you are a huge baseball fan. Would you want to see this golden at bat? There's a lot of ambiguity, but you could at one point in a game, I think when any time a team would be trailing, you are able to just bat out of order for one player, one time in a game. Like let's say it's the bottom of the ninth, you're trailing 3-2, Yankees-Dodgers in the World Series. The 7-8-9 are the hitters for the Dodgers, two outs, and you could just say, oh, we're going to put Shoei Ohtani up. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Explain why.

All right. Well, number one, if we're going to do that, then why don't you just get, let's say the Yankees want Garrett Cole to face a batter. Why stop there? But the other... Or maybe even a mulligan where the Yankees, if they can't field the ball properly in the World Series, they go, oh, we're just going to take that play away. Do over.

But here's one of the biggest things I have the problem with that as far as anything goes. Let's just say, you want to take Shoei Ohtani. So the Dodgers' ninth place hitter is up, and the Dodgers say, we're going to use it right now on Shoei Ohtani.

And Shoei Ohtani triples, not out of the realm of possibility. Then what happens when Shoei Ohtani comes up next? Because he's the leadoff hitter. He's not only the leadoff, so you need a pinch runner.

Or does the ninth place batter just go to third? But then now Shoei Ohtani's gassed, because he just hit a triple the at-bat before. And then how many times did you see, right, in the postseason this year, maybe Ohtani gets out, would you then bat a next? And look how many good moments Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman gave us. Like, with Freeman playing with, he was great World Series MVP, but with his injury, what they just said, oh, you know, we'll avoid getting a Freddie Freeman, and we'll put Ohtani up there again, and then maybe you don't get some of those Freddie Freeman moments.

Yeah, I'm not buying this stuff. Okay, so I was in irate about this, and it usually doesn't take me much to get irate with this commissioner, because I can't stand him and he's a dope. But I'm not saying I want to see it, but it kind of just shows you the state of baseball, where they even have to go to this level of even just throwing it out there. Now, the pitch clock has worked, so give him credit. I don't like the extra innings rule, but I'm not, like, you know, nuts about it. But, you know, they limit how many times you could change.

They're trying to take all the, you know, I know this is even more strategy, but what's the point of strategy then? The problem that the game has is everybody has taken advantage of what, if you want to call it the non-rules, or the rules to an extent where it's become so egregious, whether it was, you know, a one-out lefty, or fixing your batting gloves ad nauseum as, you know, they used to call Mike Hargrove the human rain delay. That's nothing compared to what went on before the pitch clock. So, you know, look, I understood I didn't like the pitch clock, but I understood it was a necessary evil, if you will, that had to be done. I wish the umpires would have adjudicated the game a little better, maybe used or given them authority to say, hey, get back in the box.

I also would knock out, you know, the players, all the armor that they have. They don't need that. They don't need that. You want to wear the face guard. Maybe we should get you.

Wear the face guard, fine, but unless you have an injury, you don't need all that. I know we're late and we're up against it. I'm not going to tell you who this is, but I want your thoughts on this play-by-play call.

Local Live Net TV is the credit. Let's play this call. Cut 11. Carbutia gets the screen from Ratliff. Carbutia driving. Finds Ratliff. Free throw line, Jay.

Yes! Clock continues to run. Panthers have one final chance. Here's Kennedy. Kennedy with five. Step back, Jay. It's a high school game.

Oh, just say it, Kennedy. Nice. St. Francis.

St. Francis Prep. That I'm not sure. Do you know who's doing the play-by-play there?

It's a stream too, so it's not radio, to be clear. So it's a high school, so is it a high school student? No. Someone that works here. I was going to say, is it Pat Boyle?

No, it's Manny Rodriguez. Oh, okay. There you go. It's a good call. So yeah, very nice.

I love that. Yes! It's not Marv Albert from downtown. Yes! But his yes was very good. Yeah, not bad. Can you give us a Marv Albert yes?

I know you do Marv very well. Here's Jordan. Yes! Love that.

Or actually, it was more like in later years. Yes! Here is Jordan. Yes! It would be stretched out a little more. There would be a pregnant pause there. Scale of one to ten, how do you rate the Manny Rodriguez call? You know, I give him a ten for excitement.

How can you give a ten? What happens if you hear a better call? So he made the call. That's the call.

9.3 I would say for Manny Rodriguez. You know, it's a solid call. Nicely done. Sounds a little like, is it John Butler? John Butler was who used to do the bills, who recently retired.

Oh, is it? I think it is John Butler. It was John Murphy. John Murphy, yes. Yeah, so there you go.

Manny Rodriguez, geez. That was some call there. He was really excited there on the yes.

You like that how he got Stepanak, huh? Yeah, very good job out of you. Good job out of you.

All right, we will take our final break of the day update. Here is Zach. I'm hoping that Zach is Back song ends up being the number one song in the world. For a while, it was that Shaboosie song, A Double Shot of Whiskey, which is a great song, a bar song, Tipsy. That was phenomenal.

That's been stuck in my head now for two months. It's crazy. Kendrick came out with a new album. So as of this week, he has one, two, three, four, five of the top songs in the world from this new album, Squabble Up, which I have not listened to yet is in at number one.

But earlier this morning, I was watching Maggie and Perloff and I commented, right, you know, just interacting with people. And then Cap started to play a three minute and 16 second song about your boy, Zach Gelb. So let's play about a minute of that song right now as we are going to try to make it the number one song in the world.

Listen up. Born in the summer of ninety-four, Zach Gelb came a-huddy, from Philly to the airwaves, making noise every day. Temple's brought a whip, sports director in the booth to turn a ninety-four whip. Larry sharpened up his troupe from the Jersey air, from Fox Sports 90-20 to Eagles post games, making Mondays funny, late nights on CBS and Mad Dog in the mix. Now he's prime time three to six, from the Jersey air on Fox Sports 90-30 to Eagles post games, making Mondays funny, late nights on CBS and Mad Dog in the mix. Now he's prime time three to six. Oh, Zach Gelb's on the air, turn the dial up, last one's my legend in the making, making daddy Bob Brown, CBS Sports Radio every afternoon.

Zach's got the taste that'll make you swoon. Not bad. You know, Stu, I'll say this. If we could find a way to get Infinity Sports Network in there because they mentioned the old network, CBS Sports Radio, which we were called before the name change, what was that, a few months ago? A few months ago, right? Six, seven months ago. That's one of those things I say a few months ago and it could have been like four years ago.

Yeah, almost like a half year at this point. Yeah, that's just one of those things. If we could find a way to work in the new network, I would actually potentially play that at the top of an hour, like an intro for the show. That was pretty good. It's very catchy. He has sent me three versions of this.

There's that version, there's like a country version, and there's like another rock and roll version of this. So Cap's got some time on his hands. He does everything around here. And the fact that he was able to create that was really something.

That's a good job. I like that. I like that a lot. I like it a lot. I like Inja a lot. I like that song a lot.

I like that song a lot. That was an imitation, an okay imitation. Some people around here, they get very, very annoyed when I imitate them. You know, let me tell you about what we're going to be talking about tonight on the Sensitive Shepherd Show. I mean, the Good Shepherd Show. Some people get very annoyed when you imitate them around here, even though I think that person is very talented.

One of the most knowledgeable basketball voices at the station, at the network. See, positive things there. It's not always negative. Let's get some thick skin. Let's have some fun. Let's laugh a little bit.

Let's not take ourselves too seriously. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Don't catch me this weekend.

2 to 6 a.m. Eastern Time, okay? So, I'd like to prop up everybody. I've got to be that sensitive.

I don't want to text about that as well. I just did an imitation too. Alrighty, fun show. Sean Alexander, thank you.

Stu Samter, the best crew in the business. We'll do it all again tomorrow. Yeah, bye-bye. Peace.