Week 9 Must-Wins? (Hour 2)

What makes your skin crawl? No matter how absurd, I wanna know.

Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums. I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. You send me your fear.

I'm just so weirded out about the texture and how they can just move around and flop. And then I go to the experts to learn how to overcome them. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from. And we're coming to you live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

Need to know what it takes for a home to fit your budget and your family well. Rocket Candidates is at GELP Show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. And now joining us in studio, big time friend of show was actually with them last night watching the World Series a little Thursday night. Football may have had an old fashion or two and we saw someone potentially that's one of my idols growing up. And I say potentially, definitely one of my idols growing up. And I'm not talking about you, Josh Booty, but we will get into who that person was in just a second.

But friend of show Josh Booty, the former NFL college quarterback at LSU and did get drafted by the Marlins here with us. Josh, how you been? I've been great, man.

I appreciate the time you're giving me today. And of course, always fun hanging out with you in the city. We had a blast last night. This little cigar in a couple old fashions doesn't get any better than that.

We did. And I walked in after the show and I sit down and they had these big comfortable leather chairs. It's a cigar bar, Josh's order and all this food left and right that's way out of my price range. And I'm probably not supposed to be in this establishment.

And the next thing you know, I go, holy crap. A guy that I dressed up for is Halloween four times as a kid, Mike Piazza, who's been on the show twice. And Josh. Pepperoni Piazza.

Yeah. Who I've been around a few big time celebrities with Josh Booty. Josh jumps up like a fat kid in a candy store and is like, Mike, how you been?

Great to see you. And we had a little conversation with Mike Piazza. This guy, he was one of the all time greats, of course, Hall of Fame type player, catcher, Dodger. You know, I grew up, him and Keros played together.

Eric Keros was a friend and we had the same agent. And I always kind of looked up to the guys that were five, 10 years older than I was. And he was one of my all time faves. The guys like Don Mattingly, Will Clark, Mike Piazza. I'm trying to think of some more Terry Pendleton.

You know, those were the guys that I idolized as a high school kid or a middle school kid. And probably much like you, you played Piazza for Halloween, you know? But when he walked in, when I was leaving the Marlins in 99, I think he was coming in at the same time. So I got to spend- For five days, yeah. For five days.

So I got to spend a few days with him. And I just remember how big of a presence he was in the locker room in a stud. And he is still jacked out of his mind. Yeah, he looks good. You know, he looks like he's lost some weight. He must be on that treadmill like Troy Aikman or something. He's staying lean and mean.

He looks good though. When Booty and Gelb go out together, we slobber over Mike Piazza. That's the definition of a big night out there on the town.

And Josh Booty in studio with us, who is the player through all your connections, right? College football, NFL, Major League Baseball, that when you finally met the person, whether it was in similar social circles or just being in the same locker room that you said, holy crap, I got to pinch myself. I can't believe I'm there. Man, it was John Elway for me because he was my favorite quarterback growing up. I didn't miss a Bronco game. And of course we didn't have the NFL Sunday ticket back then. So it was like, I couldn't wait for the Broncos to be on against the Raiders or the Chargers.

And, you know, games like that were massive in my mind as a kid. And so when I got to meet him at a Super Bowl party, I guess, you know, when I was 20, 21 years old, along with my agent and all these guys, Steinberg, Lee Steinberg was an agent and football agent that represented a lot of quarterbacks. They didn't represent Elway, but Elway showed up to one of the events and I was like, there he is. I mean, that's the guy that I idolized and watched probably every game that I could watch and every snap that I could watch of him playing quarterback. And that's what I always want to do is play quarterback at the NFL and be like John Elway.

So he was probably the one that I was a little tongue tied, you know, as a youngster coming up, getting the opportunity to say hello to John. Josh Booty here with us in studio. We'll talk about his new app, Bula, which has finally launched and is gonna be a big time success coming up in a bit. Let me get your thoughts on the LSU program. Brian Kelly comes in. We know he's a very successful coach, but he got off to the wrong start with the whole family stuff and pretending as if he was a Southerner for his entire life, the cringey recruiting videos. But so far, I know ugly start against Florida State, but he's winning games and they're sitting at six and two with a big one this weekend against Bama. He is only one loss in the conference and that's to Tennessee. And of course, we know how good Tennessee has been playing, especially on offense, but I think he was able to right that ship after week one. We lose in the Superdome of all places, which is right down the street from Baton Rouge and New Orleans and Florida State had to come over from Tallahassee. It was almost like a home game for us and for us to not play well early in that game.

We played well in the fourth quarter, but everybody had question marks. Is this, you know, can Brian Kelly come into this kind of culture and narrative and create his own narrative, right? He's a, we know he's a great coach at Notre Dame. He's been great coach other places.

He's 10 win coach there almost every year, but can he do it in the South at LSU because it's a much different place. And South Louisiana, if you've never been there, listeners, it is a very different place and he's got to be able to recruit well, but what he's been able to do, I think, is be a great game day play caller. And now Jaden, he's getting the most out of Jaden Daniels, the quarterback here that's the starter. And he's starting to develop into a guy that can throw the football a little bit. I think early on in the season, they didn't trust him to throw the football.

He's been able to do that the last few weeks. He had a great game against Mississippi State. He had a good game against Ole Miss. He just, Florida, he's starting to play. Florida was his best game, actually. So he's starting to play well and kind of come into his own as a passer. And we've got great receivers on the outside.

They just weren't getting the ball early in the season. We dropped that game to Notre Dame and then we dropped one in the middle of the season to Tennessee. Other than that, I think we're the highest ranked two-loss team in the country at number 10 in the college football playoff rankings. So we're sitting there in the mix.

You know, if we beat Bama, if we happen to beat Bama this weekend, we could be in the SEC Championship if we're able to win throughout the rest of the season. So he's done a good job getting us to where we're at. And I think the best is yet to come for him down there.

So you would say that so far, even if it got off to that rocky start, Josh Booty, that he's now starting to earn the trust of that fan. I think he didn't panic. And I could tell when he was on the sideline. Oh, he shouldn't.

He was at Notre Dame. Yeah, he's not going to. It wasn't like he was coming no disrespect from like the raging cages or something. But I'm saying he didn't panic after that loss. Even the way he handled himself the next few weeks in the media, he was the same as he was the week before.

He didn't change anything. You know, and he was like, we're going to learn the players. The players are going to learn us. There's nine new staff members. There's a lot going on when you got a new staff come in.

And we lost a lot of guys to the transfer portal, you know. And we have to rebound a little bit. And he's been able to right the ship, man, after that first loss. So I got to give him some credit on how we've played thus far this year.

Six and two, we're sitting good. When do you start to think national championship? Because we've seen three coaches since the 2000s go to LSU and win national championships. For them, when you take a glance, you have Alabama in that conference. You have Georgia in that conference. How far away do you think Kelly is from really getting LSU back to that standard? I think we've got to play stingy defense. And we had an injury early on to a big defensive tackle that hurt us early, I think, in the season. And he would have been a big factor in this year's kind of run for maybe an SEC West chance, you know. And Bama is so darn good. They cast a huge shadow over the entire conference and have for the last 10, 15 years.

But I think we've got it. He's got to get his guys in there. He's a he's kind of a balanced pro style guy. He likes to use the tight ends. We've seen him at Notre Dame.

Those guys get drafted. I think he likes to run the football. He likes to have the big guys up front that can push people around. He's not afraid to play like the Patriots, kind of a balanced attack. And so LSU's got to get that, I guess, identity going with the people that we recruit or the players that we're recruiting. We've got a five-star guy that's going to red-shirting this year, Walker Howard, who's a fine player, I think, at the quarterback position. And he's Kelly's guy. So I think when he gets in that mix and then gets a little experience, I would say year three and year four when Walker's a redshirt sophomore and junior, we're going to be real good.

Josh Brody here with us. How does the game play out this weekend? Because you look at the Alabama team, struggled against Texas A&M. Quinn Ewers gets knocked out of the game against Texas.

They could only find a way to beat them by one point. Lost to Tennessee. Can you see upset alert here for your alma mater against Alabama?

I think anything can happen Saturday night in Death Valley and Tiger Stadium. But I do think we start two freshmen on the offensive line. They got Elias Ricks back at corner, who was with us last year. Transfer portal guy to Bama.

So Saban stole him from our program. And that kind of frees that other corner Kool-Aid. So they got Kool-Aid and Ricks on the corners. And now it kind of gives their safeties a chance to come and play downhill. Because Elias Ricks is such a one-on-one defensive corner. And he could cover one-on-one.

And that frees the whole defensive secondary up. And they didn't have that against Hendon Hooker in Tennessee when they played several weeks ago. So I think with our inexperience on the offensive line and Will Anderson in that group that they have on the defensive front at Alabama, it's going to be real tough for us to win. So I would think that Bama would win by 10 or 14 in the lines 13. So I would think 14 points Bama is going to win this game. It's also always amazing, Josh Booty, how we talk about Alabama. They have a few close games. Then they lose the game.

And it's up. This is not the same Alabama. The dynasty's ending.

And they always find a way. Is there a legit concern with how good Georgia is, how great Tennessee is, that maybe, just maybe, Alabama's actually going to miss the playoff this year? I think Saban is always worried about someone nipping on his heels. But now he got real teams that are really nipping on his heels when Georgia was able to overcome last year's loss and avenge itself in the national championship. And no former Saban assistant had ever beat him.

Last year, he lost to Kirby Smart and Jimbo Fisher. So that kind of set a precedence, too, is we're not as scared of Bama as we normally have been in the past. So I think Saban's got a little of that fear in his system going, we have to work harder.

We got to work even smarter. And I think he's assessed probably the situation after that Tennessee game and said, man, I got to get guys in the right position for us to win the games. We've got to coach it up better.

And so I promise you, he's dug in, dug his heels in. And they're going to be a different football team the rest of the way. I hope we can play with them Saturday. I think we've got the athletes to stay with them. We can get the ball on time to the receivers.

We've got a chance if we don't, we won't have a chance. You look at the quarterback, Bryce Young, he's phenomenal. Jameer Gibbs is a great running back. But the difference with this Bama team, in my opinion, is they don't have the studs at wide receivers. You're used to seeing four first or second round draft picks just for the quarterback to throw the ball to. That's where I think they get really hurt this year.

And it's crazy, you know, play the small violin for Alabama and not having the greatest towel in the world. But that's what makes them vulnerable this year. It's evident, I think Burton came over from Georgia to wide out to transfer to Bama and Saban was lucky to get him. But Jameer Gibbs is the leading, the running back is the leading receiver on the team with a little over 300 yards receiving.

So they don't have that deep play threat. They got two freshmen. A guy named Bond is going to be a big time player. But he's a freshman. They got two freshmen, maybe three, I think, that are really going to contribute maybe down the stretch here. And so they're going to be relying on young receivers. And that's not something that Bama has ever really had to do. Last year, I don't think they'd lose to Georgia if they don't lose the two receivers, Williams and Meachie three. I think they win the national championship.

Those guys are now gone. They've got all these young players. Some of them are going to have to step up and at least one of them to kind of help Burton and Gibbs. I think Bryce Young can distribute the ball to the guys. They just got to be able to step up and make plays in big time moments.

Because there's going to be some big moments the rest of the way for them. And you look at Ohio State, they have wide receiver after wide receiver. That's not the case this year for Bryce Young and the normal Alabama standard. That's why I've been more impressed with Bryce Young. And if I was picking between Bryce Young or CJ Stroud in the NFL draft, I would go with Bryce Young. How about yourself?

I'm the same way. And not to take anything away from CJ Stroud. I think he's a fine player. He's playing with Ferraris all over the place at wide out.

You mentioned Bryce Young doesn't have that luxury. And he's just making plays. He has to do a lot of stuff outside the box to make things happen.

Because receivers aren't deadly weapons for him this year. And so he is. It's fun to watch him because he's cool, calm, and collected. And he's got Gibbs back there.

And that one-two punch is pretty darn good. But now they got to get some of these wide receivers in the mix. And I like what you said about him having to step up.

It's interesting to watch. And hopefully, he'll get some of those younger players. That's where leadership kicks in, is to bring those guys along. And now it's the second half. The end of their first year as freshmen and playing that position. And they're rotating them in and out trying to find a guy that can really step up.

But if one does, then Bryce is going to be thrilled with that because he needs it. Let's get to Tennessee and Georgia. It's the game of the weekend.

Tennessee, let's start with them. How do you kind of view what they've been doing this year? Because Hendon Hooker was good last year.

He's even better this year. And Josh Heiple, when they brought that UCF regime over to Tennessee with the AD and then hiring Heiple, wasn't all that positive. And he shot a lot of people up pretty quickly. He has.

There's been some cases like that in the past. At SC, Pete Carroll wasn't the first guy that they wanted. He ran the gamut on the whole league for a while. He was Saben-esque for a decade.

And I think Heiple's got some really interesting things going there. Hendon Hooker gives him a lot of experience at the quarterback position. He's a big strong arm guy, probably a first rounder, mid first round guy. He may play after play in those big moments against BAM. And I know that was a home game. Now he gets to go on the road and try to do it and defend their undefeated season on the road in Athens. That is no easy task. And I'm telling you, they're going to be able to run the ball. They're going to have to get themselves and get down in distant situations. They can't get penalties that hurt them. He's got to have the receiver make plays like he did against BAM.

They're going to have to do some of the same things that they've done. They're throwing for 353 yards a game passing. So they're spreading it all over the field and doing some awesome things offensively. I kind of worry about the defense. Can they shut Georgia down enough to win this game on the road?

They're eight and a half point underdogs or eight point underdogs. This is going to be a tough one for Tennessee because Georgia's sitting there waiting in the wings at home. When we start to look at the college football playoff picture, who do you think are going to be the four teams at the end of the year? That's a great question. I think the four best teams in the, I don't know if TCU is as good as Clemson, but I would love to see them match up.

I think they're kind of on the outside. Sonny Dougins has done a really good job. Dougins play them all, and the wide receiver is going to be a stud in the NFL, Johnson. Big time guy, Balitnikov maybe this year.

I mean, he's having a heck of a year, and they're doing some great things. I think Ohio State probably beats Michigan. They're going to be at home, so I'm trying to kind of play this out in my head. I think Bama wins this week, and then they're going to represent us in the West. I think Georgia beats Tennessee. Tennessee's kind of on the outside looking at it.

So then here's the question. If Georgia beats Tennessee and you get that Georgia Bama SEC title game once again, who do you pick to win that? Because then that sets up all chaos, depending on the results of that. I like Bama, and I do like Bama. So then you have Bama in the playoff, then I guess the committee would go Georgia. And Tennessee might get left out, depending on how this game ends up. If Georgia wins it by field goal, that's different than if they win by 21. Can you get three SEC teams in the college football playoff this year? I would like to see it, but I'm an SEC homer. You know what I mean?

You're talking to the wrong dude. You know what I'm saying? But I do think Tennessee, Georgia, and Bama strength the schedule in the way they're playing football are better than Clemson. I think they're probably all three better than TCU, but they might be unblemished. And then Ohio State is a team that, or Michigan. If Michigan can win that game on the road, it's going to be a monumental win, and they'll jump right in it. I promise you the winner of that game's in it.

This is what I think's going to happen. You'll have two SEC teams in. You'll have the winner of Ohio State Michigan in. And then that last spot, I don't think Clemson is that good. But if they're undefeated, how are they going to leave Clemson out? Exactly. And they started the year higher.

You know what I'm saying? They didn't have to vault as far as TCU. That's why I was hoping Clemson was going to lose to Syracuse. TCU might have better wins, though. And so that's going to be a huge debate if they can run this table. I don't know if they're going to run the table. I think they've got probably the hardest road down, except for the SEC teams. So it'll be fun to watch what TCU and how they respond the rest of the way, or try to clean house on the season going undefeated.

Let's talk jobs. I know you're very big on Connor Wigman. And he got in last week and played very well. It feels as if Jimbo gets another year. But next year, that seed is on fire to start off here.

Big time. And I think they'll do well, though, next year, because Connor is such a great player. And it will be a huge asset to them.

And they've got some young receivers that can really play as well. So they'll come on as well. He's recruiting. And they have the unlimited funds, too.

The unlimited funds. He's recruiting his butt off. They're getting those players in there. And I think the younger players will see opportunity.

Even the high school seniors see opportunity. We can go help A&M kind of jump that hurdle, that last hurdle that they got to get over. And so Jimbo is going to be able to get those guys in. Like you said, those NIL deals at Texas A&M are nice.

And there's some big money down there in College Station. So I think that Connor Wigman and Jimbo, they're going to have to play this thing right. But if they do, they can be a team that can be really reckoned with next year, with Connor getting the experience late this year, helping him for next year. Wrapping up with Josh Booty. Who gets the Auburn job? You feeling Dion? You feeling Lane Kiffin? Is it Freeze?

Who is it? Yeah, I think Hugh Freeze is a great coach, man. I really do. And he needs an opportunity, again, to go to the top with what he's trying to get accomplished and try to win a national championship. That's not going to happen at Liberty. And even though he's done a wonderful job, I think Lane Kiffin could get more money at Auburn because they got deeper pockets, a bigger school, bigger program, bigger, longer, you know, traditional power. Auburn's got that.

Dion would be an unbelievable pick for them just from a marketing standpoint. And he does love football. He would be able to get recruits left and right.

But Lane's doing a great job with that. And Hugh Freeze knows how to coach at a high level. So any three of those dudes are awesome for Auburn. Auburn needs somebody that can come in and kind of revamp and get everybody fired back up, kind of like SC with Lincoln Riley. Now they're on fire.

Everybody's off juiced and the marketing engine's going. You know, that's what's got to happen at Auburn because they've fallen off the wagon so far. But I would like to see Dion there. It would be fun to see him take over a college program to see kind of how the NIL and the marketing and all the transfer kids that he could probably bring in there that would love to play for a guy like Prime. Does Urban Meyer ever coach again, or does he just sit on the TV set at Fox? I was texting with Urban's best friend yesterday. And I'm actually headed to Atlanta tomorrow to hang with Carr, who's Urban's best friend, and one of my great friends. And I sent him a little picture of Urban and Auburn, you know, pull over. And they said, is this, you know, time to call everybody?

I think Nebraska more likely for going to be realistic. And I was laughing. And he was laughing. He's like, heck, there's no chance in hell he's going to Auburn. And he's a Florida gator, my buddy is.

So anyways, I don't know. I think Urban's enjoying the Fox gig, man. He loves it. And he does such a good job on TV. So I like him there, man.

I don't know if he's going to ever coach again. OK, before we let you run, I have the Bula hat. I know everything about Bula, but tell us about the fine work that you're doing with the new app.

Man, I appreciate it. Yeah, Bula Challenge app on the, you know, on the Apple and I, you know, Android, you can download it today. We launched last week.

We've been at this thing a year and a half. It's a social gambling app. So it's peer-to-peer challenge. Dare, wager your friends on the blockchain.

No social app has ever been on the blockchain in today's world, you know, like TikTok and Snapchat and Instagram story. We're like that, but it's with a verdict. So it's a call to action app where you can challenge, dare, wager your friends anytime, anything, anywhere. And it's a lot of fun. Talk trash. It's like Dude Perfect jackass and handicapping all rolled into one. There's no sports book.

There's no big. It's mono and mono peer-to-peer, whether it's playing video games or horsing around in the backyard or at the bar or we're talking football and betting football. You could do whatever you want on this thing and memorialize a challenge, dare, wager, in about 10 seconds for the whole world to see. So it's kind of next level social.

Now I'm going to show the hat hair just real quickly. But how did you guys come up with the logo? The logo is pretty neat. Yeah, my brother came up with it. Bula means wishing you luck or wishing you life. It's a Fijian term. And we used to say Bula when we were young. If you couldn't handle your business, it's like, dude, you're full of Bula.

And it was an easy way of saying bullshit. But the character is an island character. We wanted like an arcade-ish character because we're going to be big into e-gaming and all kinds of stuff. So it's a fun brand look with the Fijian character. We even named him Koa. So if you ever see the Fijian character for Bula, his name's Koa.

How about that? The more you learn each and every day when you get involved with Bula. Josh Booty, appreciate the time. Great to see you, my friend. Man, thanks for having me.

It's always fun being with you, brother. What makes your skin crawl? No matter how absurd, I want to know.

Tails without fur on them, such as rats or possums. I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. You send me your fear.

I'm just so weirded out about the texture and how they can just move around and flop. And then I go to the experts to learn how to overcome them. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from. Is there something really absurd that skeaves you out?

Getting a paper cut on my eyeball? A fear you can't shake? I'm going to leak ocular fluid on my cheeks.

It's going to go into my mouth, and I will perish. Whatever scares you, I want to talk about it. Join me, Larry Mullins, on my new podcast, Your Weirdest Fears. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. Yo, yo, Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. You can think of O'Reilly Auto Parts for your car care needs.

Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. I know that we've talked about Jimbo Fisher being on the hot seat, and I am under the belief that Jimbo Fisher will be the coach next year at Texas A&M. Now, they are three and five. You lose this weekend, you go to three and six. Oh, that puts you in a really rough spot when you get to Texas A&M, and they're going up against Florida.

But anyway, hot take hickey, here's my question for you. And I know that we have discussed this in the past, and you have, if my memory serves me right, which sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't as we learn this week, you're under the belief that Jimbo Fisher after this season is going to be a free agent because that Texas A&M is going to let them go. That's what you've been thinking?

I do, yeah. I'm not buying the buyout as high enough. And I've said to you from the start in this conversation that with Connor Wegman now getting into the fold, I believe that's going to get him another year, especially too, with all the players that they have brought in through the NIL deals and everything like that. And I know now it's easier to move on from a coach when it comes to recruiting. Yes, you'll bring in a new guy, but how much turnover do we see anyway?

So maybe there is a little incentive to keep them around for one more year, and you could keep some more of those guys, but it could go both ways in that conversation. I just think when you went into this year with A&M, did you really expect anything out of A&M? I'm not telling you I expect them to be three and five. I didn't think they would be this bad. And they're in the midst of being on a four game losing streak, could be on a five game losing streak after this week, and I do think they'll be Florida. But did you think that A&M was really ever going to be really good heading into this season?

Not at all. When they were six, they talked about the trends of a top 10 team falling out of the rankings. That was a team I circled. One of the things that got right, not to brag. But isn't that part of the issue, though? Like, we were talking about a team who has the talent, who's ranked six, and we're sitting there like, eh, we don't really think much of it, and we're not going to see this team as a legitimate title contender. You're paying a coach $9 million a year. I thought that they, you're right.

You're 100% right in everything that you're saying. I thought they were going to be somewhere in the 20s when you look at the top 25 at the end of the year. And for me, it was always about when you got to see Connor get on the field, and we saw that last week. And he throws at 338 passing yards, all beat in a losing effort to Ole Miss. I just really did go into this season when I looked at A&M, and I said, let me see where they are next year before we fire Jimbo Fisher. And I do believe that he will get next year, but depending on how that schedule is early on, or maybe halfway through the season, if it is shaky, if it is ugly, like three and five next year as they are right now, then he's absolutely done so.

So it makes me raise the question here. A&M is a heck of a job, a great job in college football. If you are one of these coaches, and you're thinking about Auburn, and you're a Lane Kiffin, or I guess it doesn't apply to Dion Sanders because he's not coming from inside the Power Five already.

But if you're a guy like Hugh Freeze, who I think all three are different, because for Freeze, you don't know if you're ever going to get that opportunity again. If Auburn offers you the job, I think you got to take it. For Dion Sanders, I think it's the same thing. If Auburn offers you the job, I think you got to take it if you want Dion Sanders to be a Power Five coach, which I believe he does. And I think he will be eventually. For a guy like Lane Kiffin, you're going to be a hot commodity. And I think the way that I view Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss is that's not a job that you got to have. So as you see with Lane Kiffin, he dips his toe into the water.

He has a lot of success. And then when he has that opportunity to get that big job, he bolts. And in this case, I wonder if Lane Kiffin, who I think should be the top choice at Auburn, maybe says, let me see what happens to Jimbo Fisher. Now, the only problem with that is if Jimbo Fisher has a lot of success next year, and they don't fire him at Texas A&M, and then a year from now we're sitting there, where Lane Kiffin's still at Ole Miss, where he's doing a really good job at Ole Miss. But you know, he probably feels as if he deserves that next step up with inside the SEC. Waiting's a dangerous game, because they also go both ways if you're A&M. Wait, it is the hardest part. Let's say Lane Kiffin, for argument's sake, is there a guy? That's the guy we circled.

Hickey went right over his head. No, I didn't say that one. Wait, is the hardest part? You have any clue who sings it? I don't. I honestly don't know any other part of the song. That's the act. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Thank you.

Even better version when Eddie Vedder joined them live on stage to do it. Wow. Look at you. Were you there for that act?

Sorry, one more time? Were you there for that? I was not.

Oh. Are you the concert guy? I feel as if I remember. Did you go to Billy Joel within the last three years?

No. I went to Billy Joel 35 years ago. Where did you go to Madison Square? I remember you telling me you were going to some concert at Madison Square.

I was hauling oats in Squeeze. Oh, OK. I was two weeks before the pandemic hit. Really? Yeah. My sense of timing is awful. I thought that was within a year. Wow.

Pandemic changed everything. It does all kind of blend together. But get back to your point of waiting there, Hickey, before I cut you off and just obliterate it.

No, made it a good reference. And we went with it. But to your point, it's like if you're Lane, or if you're A&M, let's say you have your eyes on Lane Kiffin, there's a chance he leaves Robert. And it's like you're waiting kind of burns you.

If you have a guy sitting in your heart, this is a guy, why wait? Well, I'm thinking of the other way. I know. I know what you're saying.

But to your point, it's bounding to skill. Because if you're Lane Kiffin, it's OK. Connor Wiggins, let's say maybe he is the guy who develops. Well, Jim officially, that's the case. He's not going anywhere anytime soon.

Yeah. So it's like you can maybe wait around and hope for A&M. And if A&M never opens up, you miss on A&M, you miss on Auburn. Next thing you know, if he doesn't want to be at all missing anymore, he's looking to leave.

You're kind of stuck for a little bit compared to just seizing the moment now. In terms of preference, would you rather have Lane Kiffin at Auburn or Deon Sanders at Auburn? Which one would you personally rather have? I will say I guess Deon Sanders because I have more questions. And if it works, I think it'll work really well.

If it fails, I think it'll go horribly. Either way, I'm very intrigued. So you'd rather have Deon Sanders just because of the intrigue level.

Yes. I want to see what he is as a powerful. And now for the questions, I want to see what he truly is. Can he coach or not? Can he coach at the SEC level or not? I think Deon Sanders, with the way that recruiting works right now, would be a major home run at a Power Five job. And I think a lot of coaches inside the SEC would be afraid if Deon Sanders gets a job. Because in recruiting, and I know you have to have the, if he gets one of these major jobs, not like just a Power Five job, that's a good job, but not a major job.

If he gets one of these major jobs with those resources, I think it could be a whole lot of fun. And I think it could be really special with Deon Sanders. I know right now the better football coach is Lane Kiffin, but you're right. The more exciting, the more intriguing thing is Deon Sanders. And I really hope Deon gets a Power Five job this year. And I don't want to see him, I think I, you know, you look at the predictions, like I don't want to see him go to Nebraska.

You know, Nebraska used to be a good job. I want to see him in the SEC against the best of the best, where it's show time for prime time. And I want to see him at all. I would love for him to be at Auburn. With that being said, I do think it's going to end up being Lane Kiffin. I don't think Lane Kiffin is going to be able to pass up Auburn and the most qualified person for the job out of the realistic candidates is going to be Lane Kiffin. Maybe then Jimbo gets fired, A&M hires Deon Sanders, and then we'll have Jimbo go coach Jackson State. I will love triangle, just switching around. Yeah, I don't think Jimbo's going to Jackson State.

Jimbo goes to Ole Miss. How about that? Yeah, that's probably more likely than a little. Okay, well, yeah, that works too. You know what, let's just take a break.

It is the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. Is there something really absurd that skews you out? Getting a paper cut on my eyeball. A fear you can't shake. I'm going to leak ocular fluid on my cheeks.

It's going to go into my mouth and I will perish. Whatever scares you, I want to talk about it. Join me, Larry Mullins, on my new podcast, Your Weirdest Fears. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from.

Is there something really absurd that skews you out? Getting a paper cut on my eyeball. A fear you can't shake. I'm going to leak ocular fluid on my cheeks.

It's going to go into my mouth and I will perish. Whatever scares you, I want to talk about it. Join me, Larry Mullins, on my new podcast, Your Weirdest Fears. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from.

Is there something really absurd that skews you out? Getting a paper cut on my eyeball. A fear you can't shake. I'm going to leak ocular fluid on my cheeks.

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It's time to say goodnight to that check engine light with the free AutoZone FixFinder service and it will help troubleshoot the likely cause of your life for free. Restrictions apply, get in the zone, AutoZone. If I asked this question heading into this NFL weekend, our ninth NFL weekend of the season, it got kicked off last night with the Philadelphia Eagles going to 8-0 and taking down the Houston Texans in Houston. If I asked you, who's the team that needs to win the most?

What's your answer? Because I've assembled five teams. Five teams. And two of those five teams actually go up against one another. But this weekend, I think there are five teams that are just really, really intriguing to me.

And I think they need a win in the worst way. Who are your five? Oh, you don't have to give me five, Hickey. Who's your one team?

I'm gonna go with a box. I know they're three and five right now. Equally, they'll argue the Rams.

Yes. Because the one savior for the Bucks, and the Bucks and Rams, that's the two teams that are both on my list and I still have three more. If the Bucks lose, they could still win their division. If the Rams lose, I know that everything, well, if they lose, I think they're kind of done so in the division. Because, yeah, you could have the Seahawks lose this weekend, but at five and four, if the Rams get to three and five, that thought of them winning the division, even though it's still technically possible, because the NFC West has not been great.

San Francisco's not a buy, they're four and four, but I think they're gonna start to trend in the right direction. The Seahawks, if they win, they go to six and three. If they lose, they go to five and four. Rams lose. The talk of them starting to miss the playoffs does pick up in greater intensity than if the Bucks were to lose. The Rams at least have a little bit of a break right now because they have one less loss. That's the reason why I'm going to Bucks. If you're three and six, again, do I really think the Falcons are gonna win the NFC South?

No. But you're three games under, you're digging yourself a monster grave. And again, we haven't really seen the Buccaneers play very good football, so it's hard to think they can go on a run. Brady just got divorced, all focused on football right now. Jim Nance isn't gonna mention it.

He said today on CBS, he will not mention the divorce. What's gonna happen here? Is this the Tom Brady FU game that we've been waiting to see all year where it finally starts to click for the Buccaneers and you get people on the radio on Monday. He's all locked in on football right now. That's a classic TB12 game.

Ignore the noise, you blocked everything out of them. Bam, that's Tom Brady at 45 years old. Is that coming this weekend in Tampa? I'm gonna say no, I trust the Rams defense a little bit more. Now I know that usually the home team is given three points, right? They get three points at home. I'm surprised though that Tampa is a three point favorite.

I really am. Doesn't this feel like this should be a pick them or just maybe if you wanna give a slight edge to the home team, it's not like Tampa Bay is this great home field advantage. It's not as if you're going into Lambeau Field or you're going into Philadelphia.

At most one, one and a half. That line being Tampa Bay minus three. I feel as if that's Vegas, begging you. Begging you to plus the points on the Rams.

Now let me be clear I'm about to say because it's gonna sound a little bit like it doesn't make sense. I feel like the Rams are going to win this game but then I see that line and I'm kind of inclined even though it's probably a stay away game for me to lay the three points with Tampa if I were to bet it. Cause I gotta think the sexy play here or the pick that a lot of people are going to be doing.

Oh, I'm getting three points with LA when the Bucks have looked like this. I think a lot of people are gonna plus the three Ryan with the Rams. Oh, I kind of feel like people are gonna make up Tom Brady now focus the football he's back and now it's kind of be like the game where they turn it around.

And sarcasm and ingest. I don't think people actually seriously believe that way. He's not been locked in the last few weeks. This was the quickest divorce of all divorce. That means that this thing was practically finalized months ago. Yeah, I know that they say that it all came together rather quickly in the last month.

And let's ignore fact cause that's what we all do in the media these days. But this, yeah, I guess you could say that it seemed a little bit stressful and Brady has not looked like himself and I'm sure divorce obviously is stressful. I think the tipping point though not to be a doctor here. I think the main stress for Brady was when he had to just randomly walk away for 10 or 11 days in training camp. I think once he came back from that vacation, he knew, yeah, this relationship is a dunzo.

My marriage of 13 years is over. I would imagine. I don't think it's had much of an effect in season. I really think it's because the Bucks line has been injured. It's been awful. Wide receivers rotating in and out of the lineup and they can't run the football. And that defense has regressed too. Really, both these football teams are not good football teams.

No, they are not. And I guess it's weird to say, I guess we'll kind of find out on Sunday if Tom Brady looks really, if this Bucks offense is clicking, I don't think I would say maybe just not fully coincidence. I'll give you my other teams that really need to win this weekend. So Bucks and Rams both need to win unless they pull Colts Texans kind of match up in week one. One's gonna win, one's gonna lose.

That's the expert analysis that you tune in for. I think the Chargers need to win in the worst way because if they go to four and four coming off a buy, I know they're banged up. We'll see if Keenan Allen plays Austin Echler. Oh no, Keenan Allen's already out. Austin Echler popped up on the injury report. Now we don't know if he's gonna play.

This is a banged up. Like how did they had a bye week? How did Keenan Allen's injury, Ryan, get worse during the bye week? Why he played in the game before the bye week, I do not understand. And then number two, how it got worse without playing, I also have no idea.

Great question. I thought for sure he was coming on back right after the bye week. And it sounds like from what he said, he's basically not returning until he's 100%. Excuse me, back at 100% health off the bye week.

And that could be a few weeks, so not great. Regardless though, you have Justin Herbert. I don't care who you line up with. I know this Falcons team has been gritty this year. You gotta go in Atlanta and find the way to win the game. I also think this is a must win this week for the Arizona Cardinals. Because of the card, I don't think the Cardinals gonna make the playoffs. But if you wanna talk me back into the Cardinals, beat a Seattle team that's been good, that they're five and three, you get to four and five, you're at home. You already lost to them once where you showed no life of offense when you lost that game 19 to nine. This is the last stand really for the Arizona Cardinals this year. And the other team that I think they must win this week, and I don't think they're gonna lose, but they've had some funky performances this year.

And their record should be better, you would think than what it currently is. You have any idea who I'm gonna go with on this one? If you look through all the matchups this weekend, Hot Take Icky, who do you think my final team is that must, must, must, must, must, must win? Bengals? Yep, winner, winner.

All right. Not that I think they're gonna lose to the Panthers, but the Panthers do have a good pass rush. The Bengals have a battle offensive line.

No Jamar Chase in this game. I don't think PJ Walker's gonna out duel Joe Burrow, but that was a Joe Burrow led team on Monday Night Football that got their doors blown off, albeit against Nick Chubb and the Cleveland Browns. But this is a, you gotta win this game if you're the Bengals in five and four. And if the Saints don't take care of the Ravens and you lose this game, you start to look at the Ravens a whole lot differently at six and three to try to go win that division. So those are some of my must win games when you look at them this week. The Chargers must win this week. The Bengals must win this week. You look at the Cardinals must win. Rams and Buccaneers, they play against one another, must win for both those teams.

And you know what else included in that conversation? Packers? Yeah, well, you're right. It didn't even cross my mind that the Lions could beat them. I'm watching them out. Now the Lions are going 37-34. Zach Gelb's gonna be on freezing cold tanks.

Cold tanks exposed. Tank Campbell's gonna call you out thanks to Zach Gelb. I was drinking my ninth cup of coffee today and I heard some jackass on the radio. Screw him. Lions, Lions, baby.

Oh, I'm gonna be crying. My football team. No Jonathan Taylor for the Colts. You better get to five and four. Tame Allen girl quarterback.

And keep that playoff push alive for the Pats. Is there something really absurd that skews you out? Getting a paper cut on my eyeball. A fear you can't shake. I'm gonna leak ocular fluid on my cheeks.

It's gonna go into my mouth and I will perish. Whatever scares you, I wanna talk about it. Join me, Larry Mullins, on my new podcast, Your Weirdest Fears. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from.

Is there something really absurd that skews you out? Getting a paper cut on my eyeball. A fear you can't shake. I'm gonna leak ocular fluid on my cheeks.

It's gonna go into my mouth and I will perish. Whatever scares you, I wanna talk about it. Join me, Larry Mullins, on my new podcast, Your Weirdest Fears. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from.