Michigan QB Conundrum (Hour 2)

Yo yo, we're coming to you live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios. Whether you're looking to purchase a new home or refinance yours, Rocket Mortgage can help you get there.

For home-owned solutions that fit your life, Rocket can. We will talk some Michigan quarterback coming up this hour. Also delve into what the heck Scott Frost was doing over this weekend. But first, we're gonna play a little game here. Hickey's gonna give me a quarterback that transferred this past year and now is starting for their new team and they're already finding a way to make themselves known in their new home. And I'm gonna give you my expectations or my thoughts on that player and on that quarterback in four words or less and then we'll expand off the four words or less and have a little dialogue on this. So hot take Hickey, give me all the music here.

I'm gonna ask for it. Look at you, fresh off the weekend, probably getting yelled by your girlfriend left and right because you just ditched her and had your fantasy football draft and on Saturday night you wanted to go watch Colts preseason football instead of hanging out with your girlfriend who was out of town for a week. So I didn't think you were gonna be all locked in, all ready to go, all mentally prepared for this show and I didn't really want to put too much on your plate so I didn't have really any expectations of greatness from you today and you may have just changed that thought on a Monday when I am here for the entire week hosting shows.

Now Monday through Thursday in this time slot and then on Friday I'll be on TV and radio an hour earlier or a show earlier from 3 to 6 p.m. but I was surprised that you were on your game today with that music. Good job. Store my life, undersell, over deliver. You do undersell yourself. Keep the expectations low. No but you undersell yourself too much. You know I go after you but when I go after you I think it's to keep you in line and try to find those areas of greatness that exist inside of you and get them out of you and have that displayed on the radio to her to all of our affiliates around the country Series XM channel 158 and that free Odyssey app but I think you're sometimes too tough on yourself. I'll lighten up, I'll be my best promoter on your guidance. Just remember you asked for this, you asked for it.

Well to a certain point if you start telling me that you're the Mike Franceso, the next Mike Franceso of radio or Christopher Mad Dog Russo or whoever that host may be, Dan Patrick, whatever host you may want to say then I will keep that ego in check. Oh yeah that's right. I caused this right.

I know who that is but myself and I'm talking as Zach Geld, not Ryan Hickey. It's sometimes, it's not a lot. There's sometimes I can be in the wrong. On this one I don't get how this is my fault and I'll just put all the blame on you. I'm just trying to make you the best version of yourself and we'll see what happens.

Anyway four words or less, let's go. Tsar in pit, we had him on the show last week. Keaton Slovis, what are your expectations? Expecting big things. That's what I'm gonna say on Keaton Slovis.

Now I'll give you the explanation. Keaton Slovis in that bizarre year of 2019 when he was third in the depth chart that all those injuries happened, he put up a season where he had 30 touchdowns and nine interceptions at USC. Then you had the bizarre COVID year and last year he got hurt. There was all that surrounding Klay Helton.

We know Klay Helton got fired early into the season. Now you go to pit and not that this pit team is the greatest program ever, but pit's coming off an ACC championship. Narduzzi has been a good coach and he's coming off his best moment since being at pit and you're taking over for Kenny Pickett. I know your best wide receiver has now gone to your old home in USC, but I look at Keaton Slovis who had a lot of buzz about him last year. Potential first-round pick, Heisman watch kind of guy. I think you will see the Keaton Slovis more so of 2019 than you did from 2021 and I'm expecting big things for him. Speaking of 2021, Caleb Williams had a very nice year at Oklahoma. He's now the starter for USC. What are your expectations for Caleb Williams?

Go meet the hype. Those are the four words or less that I'll say about Caleb Williams. You get your big wide receiver. You now have the continuity even though you change programs with Lincoln Riley going from Norman, Oklahoma all the way out to Southern California and this was the guy that replaced the old quarterback that we'll get to in a bit in Spencer Ratler for you last year and you guys had some success. Now though you're embarking on this journey of restoring and bringing back USC and fair or not in your number one the expectation is going to win the is go out there and win the Pac-12. I slightly think Utah with Whittingham and Cam Rising is the better team overall and we know they have a really good defense even though they lost some talent on that defense but for USC anything short of winning the Pac-12 this year by that fan base is gonna perceive as okay they didn't meet expectations. So I want to see if USC and you're number one can go meet the hype with Lincoln Riley and Caleb Williams.

He's got a big mullet, a big beard and now he's in the big chair at Texas. How about Quinn Ewers? Beat out arch now and you may be saying Zach arch banding isn't with the program yet.

He committed. He's not gonna play a game this year. He's not even the roster this year.

He's not even at the school yet. If Quinn Ewers has a dominant year this year and if Quinn Ewers gets Texas fans to start to think with Sark we're back and he balls out this year yes there'll still be a quarterback competition this summer but Quinn Ewers essentially would have won the quarterback competition by the way that he plays this year. Now if he falls flat on his face or he doesn't give you that feeling that he should be the starter next year then the arch manning buzz which is inevitable to grow and inevitable be present will grow and be heard from louder and a lot sooner than what Texas may plan. In four words or less what are you expecting from new Oklahoma quarterback Dylan Gabriel? Win the Big 12. Oklahoma I know a new head football coach and Brent Venables and he could have got a head coaching job years ago but he wanted to stay and be number two at Clemson and be the highest paid assistant coach in the country. He's now going to Oklahoma even though they just lost Lincoln Riley.

People think they're gonna take a step back. I think Brett Venables could step right into a Big 12 which I like Baylor a lot the reigning champions. Baylor is very good but Dylan Gabriel has been a good quarterback was a good quarterback at UCF and I know UCF is now going to the Big 12 and it's it's a jump in competition from the American Athletic Conference to the Big 12 but the AAC has put a lot of players in the league the last few years and they've had a lot of success out of those non power five schools but for Dylan Gabriel you got to go win the Big 12 this year because Ryan you're a college football aficionado who you picking to win the Big 12 this year? I think Oklahoma has a great chance it's really for me between Oklahoma and Baylor. I'm going Oklahoma. You are?

Yes. Okay so go win the Big 12. How about Bo Nix Oregon? Average to me.

Dan Lanning you're number one. Bo Nix at Auburn. He's had some good moments but then also some bad moments. I never looked I don't know about you Ryan I never looked at Bo Nix as that guy as that wonderful football player and I just think he's an average quarterback to me. Very inconsistent drives you crazy.

Can't be relied on. Wasn't it the game up against Oregon? It may have been a few years ago where Bo Nix was not good early on and then he had that game winning drive laid up against Oregon to open up the college football season. Yeah his first career start 2019 against Oregon. He was a terrible night game.

He was awful. Yeah. Until that last touchdown pass. And then look how that works all these years later he's no longer at Auburn and now he's going to be a duck.

Full circle. Next QB let's hit it. Guy on the show earlier Spencer Rattler in the summer at South Carolina. Big bounce back year. I don't know how good that team's gonna be.

Everyone is loving Shane Beamer. They had seven wins a year ago. The year before that when he was not there they had two wins. Shane Beamer has that connection with Spencer Rattler all the way going back to when Spencer Rattler was at Oklahoma a few years ago and Shane Beamer was still there. I like the offensive mind of a Marcus Satterfield. I think he's a good offensive coordinator and will be a good offensive coordinator. I look at Spencer Rattler in South Carolina the SEC yeah it's tough we all know that.

I think individually though Spencer Rattler is gonna have a big season but from a team standpoint it's gonna be tough just because of the conference that you're playing. Michael Penix Jr. the king of running out of bounds is now going from Indiana. That was a touchdown. To Washington.

Whoa. Forwards or less. That was a touchdown. Two-point conversion was out of bounds no good. Pensé was robbed.

It was a successful conversion. The ball was clearly out of bounds. The referees. What was the ruling?

Blind. What was the ruling? Listen the referees just cause you rule does not mean it's right. What was the ruling? What was it ended up being called? The ruling was incorrect and it was in bounds. Now Michael Penix Jr. is taking his talents. Stop stop stop.

From the Midwest to the West. No no no. You're not just you're not just gonna jump over that. What was the exact ruling? It bounced. They ruled him in bounds.

They said it was a good conversion. And what happened because of that? Pensé lost. They were robbed. To Indiana two years ago?

2020 yep. The season was derailed before it even got started. Did you guys throw it to your own five? They didn't.

Please nonsense okay set it up go ahead. Michael Penix Jr. going from Indiana to now all the way the Pacific Northwest at Washington. McCalen DeBoer. Friend of the show. No I can't say that he's only been on the show once.

Okay. Nice guy great interview. Been on the show. Haven't heard from ever since he got the job at Washington so.

Forgot about us. Interesting. I don't know if it's him. Oh. Cuz he did get back to me after he got the job. He texted back with me when I sent him a message and congratulated him to basically set up for him to get on the show. After I was told to reach out to people in the Washington Communication Department that's when I've not heard back.

Which it always stinks when the guy said he's willing to do it and then it's a communications department that doesn't even respond to return an email so. It is what it is. But Michael Penix Jr. injury concern. I like the Indiana program. I think Tom Allen's a very good coach with more underrated coaches in the country and some good stuff there in Indiana which is a tough place to go win some football games and he's done that.

But Michael Penix Jr. I feel like any time people are ready to say okay he's gonna have a good year he's gonna have a great season he gets hurt. That's why he's an injury concern to me I don't really have high expectations for him at Washington and especially with the new head football coach taking over. And finally Jackson Dart going from west to east USC now to Ole Miss.

Go thrive with Lane. Lane Kiffin is an offensive genius in college football. I love what Lane Kiffin does in the offensive side of the ball. I loved watching Ole Miss the last two years with their quarterback and Matt Corral.

I don't know what Jackson Dart's gonna be. A lot of people were optimistic about him with this time at USC when he's been able to get on the field. It's not gonna be because of lack of coaching. Because Lane Kiffin even if you may not love him even if you think he's polarizing even if you don't think he's a great coach he is a really great offensive mind. And yeah there's a lot of changes.

Yes you lost a lot of talent. You now are gonna be put in a system where you're gonna be given the opportunities to succeed individually for at least the season. I want to see if you could go thrive with Lane Kiffin. What are your thoughts on Jackson Dart by the way?

I'm excited. I think it's one of those plug-and-play systems where anyone that's kind of playing quarterback with Lane Kiffin is gonna have success. Yeah you're right. I'm more optimistic with the system than the quarterback. Right and he's talented. He should fit right in.

All right real quickly to review. Keaton Sloves just tell me if you agree or disagree. Expecting big things was the words that I use. I would agree. I think I'll have a bounce back here.

Caleb Williams go meet the hype. Hundred percent. Hundred percent.

Isn't it weird first year and we had a lot of big jobs open. Anything short of winning the Pac-12 will be a little bit disappointing this year for for USC. If they're in the game I would disagree. I think making the Pac-12 game if they lose to USC let's say Utah and Utah's like a if they go to the playoff I would say it's still for year number one a success. Quinn Ewers beat out Arch now. I'm with you. I am a hundred percent with this is a big chance we're gonna put Arch on the bench for at least a year. And that is one of the biggest talking points in college football.

It may not have had the conversation yet but that will be one of the biggest talking points throughout the entire season because you know it. Once the season gets underway it's when will Alabama lose. Ohio State I know they have a tough game up against Notre Dame early but if they survive that a lot of people are gonna be all in on Ohio State this year. Georgia's a really good program. Clemson needing a bounce back season.

Other than that though. And we're having this conversation who's gonna be in the top four. It's a little hummin hummin hummin. Utah how much they move the needle. Oklahoma we know. Very big time program.

But Texas one of those mega brands. And we like to talk about the now but we also look ahead to the future. That Arch Manning conversations going nowhere. But it could really be decided this year based off the play of Quinn Ewers this year. Who also was once a number one quarterback people. I don't want to say forget about that.

I was just gonna say. But there's there's even differences with the top dogs. Like you're number one. Then there's number one with the last name Manning.

It's a little bit different in the way that we talk about it. And Quinn Ewers graduated high school early because he was that good and ready to go. Get that straight catch homie. And week two Alabama at home if he wins that game plays well. You could say he'll kind of ride that for a while. Dylan Gabriel win Big 12. Absolutely.

You got the talent there. No excuses. Bo Nix average to me. Yeah. See I think it'll be more bad than good. Spencer Rattler big bounce back here.

What's big? I guess like in South Carolina like for like South Carolina terms like he's gonna like I think he'll play well and kind of resurrect his his stock percent will be a for I don't think he'll be a first round pick next year. I think he'll play himself into a second round pick. I'd agree that. Yeah. I think that's a big bounce back here for a guy that got bench and was supposed to be Heisman finalists and didn't even finish the season.

Didn't even. Yeah. He got pulled in that Red River showdown game. I would agree with that. Yeah. I think that's fair. Michael Pennix Jr. your favorite player in college football injury concern.

I think the most games he's played in a season is six. That's an issue. Yeah. And then we already talked about Jackson Dart.

So that's four words or less. It is that guilt show on CBS Sports Radio ticket time out. We come on back. I think I know what Michigan is doing and I'll run this theory by you when we come on back in five minutes. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show.

And you can think of Riley Auto Parts where your car care needs get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Let's hear from the head coach of the defending Big Ten champions. How about that, Hickey? Do you like the ring to that? The defending Big Ten champion Michigan Wolverines and their former and their you know back to the coach that got it done last year. Jim Harbaugh, you like that?

I'm glad you're saying it now. You won't be saying it too much in a few months. Yeah, but what does that mean for your school?

Nothing, Riley. Penn State's winning. But hey, soak it in while you can. But that's the most pathetic part about being a sports fan when you're rooting more for another team to lose rather than your team to win. Well, I'm just saying, you know, they are the defending champs now.

Soak it all in because it won't be won't be that way in a few months. Michigan and the Big Ten, where do you place them this year? Second. Just in second though. Oh, so second?

In the east, yeah. How about the overall Big Ten? Probably third. I think Wisconsin will be better.

Okay. I think Michigan is, yes, the second best team in the Big Ten overall. Ohio State's won. And I hope both those teams are undefeated. Undefeated going into that huge showdown. The game.

Thanksgiving weekend. That's Saturday. Oh, I just made a monumental mistake.

Oh, I'm an idiot. Picky. Oh, this is bad.

This is really bad. I just realized I'm in this New York Rangers group. And this New York Rangers group, it's for tickets. I bought two tickets for this year already. Or two games that I'm going to go to. One's February 26. Saturday, 1 o'clock, November 26. At the Garden, Rangers welcome in Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. And with all the rivalries you have that weekend, that's a tough weekend for me to go and go to a Ranger game for two and a half hours. Very tough.

I can't believe I just did that. Right in the worst time possible. 1 o'clock.

Yeah. And you know why I picked that weekend? Well, first off, it's the Oilers and McDavid coming to town. But there was a week after that conference championship week, I'm like, oh, I can't miss conference championship week. I got to be in front of a television. That was a bad blunder by me.

So I apologize. I guess it's a 1 o'clock game. The game could still be going on when I get out of there. These college football games, they could take four and a half, five hours.

It's crazy. They are the one sport that is not concerned about shortening the game. See, this though annoys me though.

Forget the whole game. Just going back to your point. Like, look at you. You're taking all these shots at Michigan. You're saying, oh, they won't be saying that in a few months. And I go ahead, where do you think Michigan's going to be?

I thought you were going to be a lot more mean to them. And then you say, oh, they'll be the second best team in the East and the third best team overall in the Big Ten. I'm not high on the Big Ten this year.

I'll be honest. I don't think there's going to be a lot of good teams. Penn State football has broken you.

Not that. It's just, they're not going to be great. Michigan State, I think it's going to take a step back. Wisconsin's not very good. You get this false hope. Classic Iowa.

You usually develop this false hope and this crazy optimism, just working with you the last few years and knowing you the last few years, whether you were on the show or not, you're always chirping away. But the Big Ten this, Big Ten that, Big Ten this, Big Ten that, SEC, you better be scared, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All these crazy takes from you. And now it's, oh, Big Ten. Ho-hum this year. Yeah.

Other than Ohio State, there's really nothing in the Big Ten. Just calling it how I see it. That's the way I always do it. Calling it how I see it. Yeah. But if Michigan was, let's just say, had the name of Wisconsin instead of Michigan, I think you'd be more optimistic on Michigan this year. You just, you're anti-Michigan. You hate Michigan. You look at what they're losing. You hate Michigan. I don't, I hate Michigan.

I would agree, but I'm also trying to be objective as well. I gave them credit when they smoked Ohio State last year. And I think this year they just lost too much. Best two-edge rushers, best, you know, you lose your both coordinators, your best defensive back, two offensive linemen. You have Ronnie Bell back, but also who's throwing the football right now. You have no idea. Now the quarterback's really capable of airing the ball out that much. What's that going to do? You'll also sound Haskins, your bell cow running back, who was carrying the offense last year.

Well, you haven't seen enough of McCarthy, if we're being fair. So I don't see a lot of optimism on this Michigan program for this year, personally, as in terms of contention for college world playoff and big 10 title. Now I know our website's all funky now, so I would go back to the website to reference it, but that's basically not existent now in our company anymore.

So it is what it is. So I can't go back to reference it, but I think I saw, I think I saw on Twitter today that Josh Perry, who is a big 10 analyst. He does feel the 12, right? Josh Perry, big 10 network field of 12. He's all over the place. He's Ohio state guy though.

Yes. National champ. I think he was on with DA this morning.

I don't know if you saw this, but I think he was on DA this morning. You know, he picked to win the big 10. He picked Michigan. Really?

Yeah. Even with Ohio state's defensive concerns. Still, and I don't see how you could sit here and pick Michigan a good conscious. I don't see that.

Don't get me wrong. I think Ohio state is going to win the big 10 this year, but I thought that was fascinating that Josh Perry said that earlier this morning with DA, that he is taking Michigan to win the big 10. And they're going to Iowa and winning.

I don't know how that's happening. They're one in three against Michigan state at home. Why isn't it impossible to go win in Iowa? It's a tough place to play. I know, but it's not as if they make the game ugly. They're this great program.

But they play a style that is tough to beat. It's annoying. Now I should have told you to pull this audio for the show. And maybe I was dreaming this today. I don't think I'd be dreaming about Josh Perry on the DA show, but I did see a headline from this. Oh yeah. CBS sports radio.

Josh Perry thinks Michigan is the big 10's best. Can you do me a favor? If I pull this up right now, can you play this live on the air without having to record it and then play? Can you just play it right off the computer in front of you?

Is that possible? Sure. Okay. I'm going to text this to you. And I want to see if the audio meets the headline.

And I'd have to think since Cap, I believe runs a CBS sports radio account when DA is on the air, Cap is not usually someone that will mislead someone and be all how Andrew Siciliano would say very clickbaity. So before we get into this Michigan conversation, I just texted you the link. Let me know when you have it. I have it. Okay. We can listen up.

This was Joshua Perry, who's tremendous on the air earlier this morning on the DA show. You watched what happened a year ago and nobody expected that. Um, you go and you beat Ohio state and you win the big 10 and you make the college football playoffs.

And I know a lot of people are going to say, well, Joshua, you know, they lost their offensive coordinator and their defensive coordinator and Nathan Hutchinson, David Ojabo and, and, you know, Chris Hinton and that's Hill and Josh defense anymore. I get it. I get it.

I totally get it. But now you got a situation where Kate McNamara did all that for you last year. He might not even be the starter. You might get a more talented quarterback in there in JJ McCarthy. Um, you've got Blake quorum who was playing banged up last year at running back. Um, you know, even though Haskins has gone, he's going to be really good player. And so Donovan Edwards, uh, they're going to split carries there. And then Ronnie Bell is going to be healthy at the wide receiver position. They're probably four deep in that wide receiver room, uh, got really good tight end play. And then defensively, it feels like they, they understand that their approach has to be that it's not going to be, um, Hutchinson, no Java creating all your plays.

We've got to be a lot of guys stepping up. All of that to say that when they go to Columbus for their last game, they're going to be undefeated and Ohio state's going to be undefeated heading into that matchup. Um, and so it puts the big 10 into this position to where whoever wins that game probably is going to win the big 10 conference. And then could you make a case for two big 10 teams to get in?

And that's where I think that situation can happen. Your reaction there, hot take Kiki. I just personally, I don't see it. I think you're asking too much of the quarterbacks that haven't been able to show it. I think defensively, even as a defensive guy himself, Joshua should know. I think he's asking too much for a defense. You're calling out Joshua Perry. No, I just don't like he's optimistic. I'm not.

That's all he should know. I think he's just asking a lot for a defense. I lost three elite players. I mean, a job would have been a first time pick if he was healthy. So you would have three first rounders off your team. And last time I checked Michigan's not Ohio state, Michigan is not Alabama or Georgia where you have, you know, you're able to reload on the fly with guys that sometimes even better than the guys that were just drafted. I don't think they have enough talent right now to be able to reload and not take a step back after losing such talented players last year.

That's that's all. They have a pre-season schedule to start out the year. They do Colorado state, Hawaii, Connecticut. Then they play Maryland with the Talia Tunga. They're at Iowa at Indiana. Then they play Penn state, Michigan state at Rutgers, Nebraska. We'll see if Scott Frost is even coaching then Illinois. And then they play Ohio state other outside the house. They came where their loss is coming and how many this year I could see Iowa.

You may laugh. I think Penn state's very talented. We'll see how they play. And I think Michigan state's going to be a problem down on Penn state, but Penn state is very talented.

They play them well. Is that quarterback of yours, the youngster, the guy that's a number one recruit going to find the way to get on the field this year at all? By then, I hope so. Drew Aller, I hope so.

Sean Clifford, nice guy. He'll be very successful off the field when he graduates at 35 years old. You know, I'm actually disappointed.

Why? I do a big part about football season. I enjoy your false hope. And I think the last two years you provided so much false hope with Penn state where in the 2020 year you said they were going to go to the big 10 championship game and win the entire thing and be a dark horse to go to college football playoff. They start out the year 0-5 or whatever it was. Then last year, after you lose to Iowa, don't worry, they'll get their revenge in the big 10 championship game.

You were spewing up all that nonsense. So I think after two years of just going to the well a little bit loopy and then just falling flat on your face right as you're about to step to go get another sip from the well. Now you go into this year as if, oh, I'm not expecting anything and I don't even think they're going to be good. And you're trying to work your way into the optimism that will inevitably come. But you just don't want to get disappointed again. You were like the kid on Christmas that asked for the big gift and you get disappointed.

So then you ask for a crappy gift and hope your parents surprise you. That's what you are now. I am managing my expectations for 2022. This is a team where in previous years I have hoped, believed without seeing it.

Now I want to see it before I believe. Sue me. My geez. What are your thoughts on the Colts this year? Super Bowl champions. Ah, there we go. Then we get the delusional hickey. Let's hear from Jim Harbaugh. He explains the QB competition and why it's continuing now into the season between Kid Mac DiMara and JJ McCarthy. It is a process.

I mean, for me to stand up, I mean, no person, I mean, that's biblical. No person knows what the future holds. And it's a process that can be based on performance. We're not going to withhold, you know, any, any good, any good thing. You know, both both have been tremendous quarterbacks.

We think that that both can are are capable of leading our team to a championship. So that's, that's good. We're gonna keep cultivating that. And people have asked, you know, is that, you know, what, how'd you come to that decision? And, you know, was it based on some kind of NFL model? No, it's, it's really, it's based, based biblical, you know, Solomon.

He was known for being a pretty, pretty wise person. What? We're going biblical now? Over a starting quarterback? I like Jim Harbaugh. But are you kidding me? Well, let's not make this more complicated than what it is.

I know what's going on here. Jim Harbaugh thinks it's going to eventually be JJ McCarthy, but he has loyalty because Kid Mac DiMara won him a Big Ten championship. So even though McCarthy's the better player, he wants to make sure that he's making the right decision, which he already should know because you had a quarterback competition. And since his schedule is such a cupcake schedule early on with Colorado State, Hawaii, who just lost by a thousand points, you have UConn as well. He could see a little game action and some more game action because McCarthy did play in some games last year, obviously, against Colorado State, Hawaii, and UConn, where one game you're going to have the starting quarterback be Mac DiMara, then the next game it's going to be McCarthy and both will see the field during those games.

And then by the UConn game, that's going to be the one where let's see what he does. And I would think it's going to be McCarthy and then by Marilyn Hone McCarthy, the starting quarterback. But this screams to me as a coach who thinks it's better to go with McCarthy, but since the guy from a year ago played a major role in him winning a Big Ten championship, the timing of it is bizarre and he just doesn't have the cojones to make the decision right now. So he wants to wait a little bit, which I just think is foolish. Go with the guy that thinks gives you the best chance to win and not do this platoon system that they're going to go through through the first two weeks. That's a problem. This is not Pop Warner football where everyone's getting, you know, a participation trophy.

But it's not going to kill them. Like Kelly Bryant played some games before Trevor Lawrence took over. It worked out okay for Clemson. I'm not saying either of these quarterbacks are going to go beat Trevor Lawrence, but we've seen coaches have bizarre loyalties to guys that played really well for them from a season ago.

It happens in college. You think that this is going to affect them against Colorado State, Hawaii or UConn or even Maryland? But those games don't, like you should win those games no matter what. Well, they're going to win those games easily. If JJ McCarthy has not shown that he's as good or better than Cade McNamara by now, we're going to see it against, I mean, I'm with you.

These teams stink. No disrespect to Hawaii. It's him playing good against Hawaii, which is basically a practice squad team at this point going to really cement him being quarterback one. I think it's just the final process in crossing the T's and dotting the I's that he wanted to extend this process. If I was him, I wouldn't extend this process.

I would say, okay, it's over with. We had a QB competition. McCarthy won.

McNamara loss. That's what I would do. I'm with you. I mean, you had spring practice, you've had training camp, you've had the summer.

You have more than enough time to figure out and make a decision. Solomon said those things. And that's what hardball's going off of. I want to know who's getting chopped up. Which quarterback is he cutting up?

Is he going to be McNamara or McCarthy? This is not that I programmed a religious station once. We're not making this now into a religious station.

Okay. I have done that before in my career. First job out of college. You were the program director of a sports station, also a program director of a religious station as well. That's going to end the religious conversation now for today.

It's above my pay grade. It is a Zach Gilp show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a time out when we come on back. When is Scott Frost going to get fired? We'll delve into that next. You're listening to the Zach Gilp show.

It is the Zach Gilp show on CBS Sports Radio. How'd it go this weekend, Ryan? You ditched your girlfriend who was out of town for an entire week?

You had a little fantasy football draft? Fine. But then on Saturday night, you said, honey, I'm not coming home.

I'm not coming back to the apartment. I'm staying at my folks' place to watch preseason on the meaningless game between the Colts and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It went exactly how I always said it was going to go. It went as expected. Tremendous. Great day.

Fancy draft outside. Don't really love my team. Did you finally, though, tell your girlfriend that the reason why you were not coming back to the apartment on Saturday night was because you had to watch the big Colts game?

That's not really a big game. But did you actually tell her that? Well, yeah. She didn't care. She didn't care. Yeah.

Why would she care? Talk to me in a month. Okay. When you get ready for a big Colts game that actually does exist, not this preseason, and she goes, we're going apple picking.

I can promise you right now. This conversation on a Sunday. Oh, I can't wait for that. How Friday's conversation went. Well, exactly how that conversation will go. It's not happening. Sorry.

And I'm not going to end up going. It's going to be exactly what I want. And then Hickey will be on Hinge in about a month, month and a half. Hickey Hinge got a nice little ring to it. That's what it comes down to. So, so be it. The out of existence for the last five years.

Now it's going to be right back up that Hinge profile. You know it and I know it. This is going to come back to bite you. You just don't want to accept reality of the situation right now.

No, I'm in a good spot. I tried to warn you guys. No, no one wanted to listen.

I don't know. I tried to tell you. All I know is you didn't listen to Spike. You didn't listen to Carl Dukes. Those are men that have a lot of experience, a lot of experience. You did not listen to Spike Eskin, our boss, and Carl Dukes who does a great job on Afternoon Drive, on the game in Atlanta.

You could also hear him on the weekends on CBS Sports Radio. Talking about people that don't do a good job. Carl and Spike do. I was more so talking about Hickey's bad decision here.

But talking about people that don't do a good job. How about this transition for you? Scott Frost. You guys should have just stayed at UCF. I know you, you know, you go back home to Nebraska, all that stuff. You lose the opening game of the season in Ireland to Northwestern. And this was a game that I thought they would win. They're up 28 to 17. And then for some reason, when you're up, you know, you're up, you're not down. You're up 28 to 17.

You thought it was a smart decision to onsite kick it. You don't get it. Northwestern scores a touchdown.

No offense, no offense, no offense. And you throw a pick. And the next thing you know, Northwestern is up 31 to 28. And that's the final score of the game.

I know it's more than just one decision. But this is going to get magnified as the turnaround. And that was the impetus of the turnaround for Northwestern. It's not the reason why Northwestern won the game. But it started that comeback.

There was no reason to onsite kick it there if you're a Scott Frost Ryan. That was that I've seen a lot of bad decisions. That's as brutal as they come. That one decision underscores and is the kind of perfect encapsulation of his career at Nebraska.

Like you won. They are somehow five and 21 in one score games. And they have now lost seven consecutive games by one score, which is a college football record. It's not an accident now that you can't win close games when you see stupid decisions like up 11 in the third quarter and you're rolling. Go let me just kick an onside kick and instead open the door for Northwestern to make a comeback. That is why Nebraska has always come up short in these close games. And that onside kick is the perfect encapsulation of just why this team can't close and why he's about to be fired.

He's four and eight, five and seven, three and five, three and nine, and now starts the year off 0-1. Imagine if you're a Nebraska fan that travels out to Ireland for this game. And you're probably thinking they're going to win, but it's not a lock of the century. And you're having a great time. Didn't we have the concession stands basically go down there?

The credit card system could have connect online. So they're giving out free beers. They're giving out free food.

Oh, what a wonderful trip here in Ireland. Getting ready to see your Nebraska team play. You're getting free beer. You're getting free food. You're up 28 to 17. Yeah, this is awesome. Oh, we're going to party all night long in Ireland.

This is going to be great. And then your coach made a boneheaded decision. Now, I don't think you just go out there only for the game. I don't think the people that attended this, that Nebraska fans just go out there for Friday and Saturday, and then they leave on Sunday. I think you make a week out of this trip and you just recently went to Ireland. But the rest of the trip, it's ruined. The rest of the trip, it's miserable. And maybe you went out the week prior and then you got out of town on Sunday.

But that stinks if you went out there. And a part of the reason why you lost is your coach had the unnecessary onside kick. That's a brutal, brutal pill to swallow if you're a Nebraska football fan, Ryan. You want to hear something funny?

Go ahead. Bo Pelini was fired at 67 and 27. That was his record at Nebraska when he was fired. If Scott Frost wins 50 straight games, he would not have a better winning percentage than Bo Pelini when he was fired. 50 straight. That's how bad he has dug himself in.

It's also amazing how these programs that are considered big brands, when they get into these patches of just bad football or they make a move and then they don't recover from that move, how many times they try to assert that they're back or they got their guy and then you usually like nine times out of 10, that team or that program ends up failing when they think they get their guy. And when Scott Frost went there, oh, he's coming home. Oh, it's going to be great. It's going to be wonderful. And now we're going to have a discussion on when is Scott Frost going to get fired in season by Nebraska?

It's kind of crazy how that works and how frequently it does happen, Ryan. And also, it could serve as a lesson for schools and teams going forward. If you kind of are on the fence going back and forth, should we bring them back? Should we not?

More times than not, the right answer is just say, let go. Time to go. Time to bring someone else in. OK, really gets better.

Let's play the game here that everyone loves. When is Scott Frost going to get fired? First off, does he make it through the season?

And then I'll throw out the potential dates. I don't think so. You don't think he makes it to the season? I don't.

North Dakota. Is he going to get a big bounce back win next week? He wins, but he'll get fired if they lose.

That's for sure. Georgia Southern win that one. They play Oklahoma. They'll lose. They will lose that by three touchdowns, right? They might keep it close and then lose yet again.

They did that last year to perfection. Indiana. I mean, look, they're better than they're going to win that game. Greg Ciano and the Fighting Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Where is that game? That game. Oh, it's at Poopy Stadium.

Shy Stadium. They'll win that game, but that's going to be close. At Purdue. Loss.

Illinois. They have a hard-nosed squad over there. It's a large coaching matchup. That is.

That is. I will say I'll go win for Nebraska. Minnesota.

Row the boat with PJ Fleck. At Michigan. Loss. Wisconsin. Loss.

At Iowa. Loss. The only way. The only way he makes it through the season is if just because of nostalgia, they don't want to fire him in season and they just wait until next year. But that could hurt programs.

That's. See, this is why it's tough to take over at your alma mater. Because, like, even Jim Harbaugh ended up working out for him. But it could leave a really bitter taste in your mouth.

Really bitter taste. Especially if this guy gets fired and ultimately you didn't win enough football games and that's what this business comes down to. I think, you know what, I'm going to go on a limb here. I think he makes it to the season. And they just wait till after the season. Like, you'll get that announcement, delete it into the Iowa game, we're going to mutually agree to part ways afterwards, and then that's how he gets it to the season.

That's what's going to happen, Nicky. Like an Ed Orgeron LSU situation from last year. He's not going to get a send off. He may get a boo off. He's lucky that last game of the season's in Iowa, not in Nebraska. Zach Gelb's show, CBS Sports Radio News Brief next.