Auburn Make The Right Hire? (Hour 2)

The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown, and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams, pause or rewind your local sports and news, and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown, and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams, pause or rewind your local sports and news, and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. 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. Watch it and your family well. Rocket can. A lot of movement in the college football landscape when it comes to coaching. And another week of football goes by as we're going into conference championship weekend.

And the teams just keep on falling as we have our chase to the final four teams for the college football playoff. Let's head out to the guest line right now. Welcome in one of our favorites, Greg McElroy, who does a great job along with Cole Kublick in the mornings on Jocks FM, and also does a great job ESPN and the former Alabama quarterback. Greg, appreciate the time. How you been?

Welcome. How are you doing, buddy? I've been fantastic.

I'll start you off with Michigan-Ohio State. Your biggest takeaway from that game was? That it really didn't surprise me. I think a lot of people, I didn't really fall victim.

This is not like a victory lap. I feel like I was one of the few people that kind of, I just feel like we were kind of, we're kind of meat and potatoes folks on our radio show. And Cole being a former offensive lineman, we just really, really watched the offensive line and the defensive line very closely. I feel like I have to because the Cole, like my eyes are naturally drawn to the back end and to the firepower that teams have. But ultimately, man, what still wins and loses in the biggest possible games is always going to be line of scrimmage play.

And I just wasn't surprised by the outcome. And so many people got so enamored with Ohio State. Oh, they have CJ Stroud and they have great wide outs and they have all this amazing firepower and look at just how they rev their engine against teams like Indiana. But when it really comes down to it, there's still a lot of holes on that roster, man. They're not great along the line of scrimmage offensively. They're very subpar along the offensive line relative to what they should be. They also are not great along the defensive line. They have good edge players and they have good linebackers, but they're really not great in the secondary. I mean, they're really just not that great. And yeah, they're going to torch teams that aren't very good. There's no doubt.

But when it comes down to a team that can control the clock and control the line of scrimmage, Ohio State's really going to struggle. A lot of people talk themselves into it being different this year. Oh, we made this whole offseason about Michigan.

We made, you know, we made them such a priority in it. I wasn't convinced that anything had changed and sure enough, it hadn't. It actually might have even been worse this year than it was last year. So, I thought it was a pretty big black eye for Ohio State. They're still very much within reach of the playoff situation, but guess what? You get into the playoff as a four seed, you find Georgia week one in the playoff.

Georgia's a steroided up version of Michigan, which is what we found out last year in the semifinals. I think that it's, I think Ryan Day's got to do some soul searching in the offseason and figure out a way not to be so dependent on the pass and probably alter a few things structurally to how he practices in an effort to improve both his offensive and his defensive lines. Is he on the hot seat now, Ryan Day?

No. Now that to me, and I've heard it, you're listening to the same thing I'm listening to. We in college football, we're two things. We are extremely emotional and we're extremely irrational. Getting rid of Ryan Day would be both to the fullest of trees. I love college football fans, but that is a typical prisoner of the moment. The guy's won 90% of his games. I mean, he's, he's getting the job done in a ridiculous clip and he's had two chances and there's, unfortunately for him dropped the ball against Michigan and look, it's, it's no secret. I mean, his teams have gotten punched in the face and they haven't responded real well to adversity, but he is without question earned the right to figure it out.

I mean, they're running roughshod through everybody else. So I'm not that consumed, like I'm not that consumed by the, Oh, what's your record against your rival thing? That to me is not the mark of a great coach. I think he will figure it out.

He's a great, great coach, but I do think that it's going to take some alterations for him to get there. Greg McElroy here with us. So I said very early in the year that I thought Michigan was slightly a better football team than Ohio State, but then leading into the game with not knowing how healthy Edwards was going to be. Not knowing what Blake Coram would be. I thought Michigan would cover. I thought they would lose a close one just because it would be so much to overcome those injuries.

That to me is the embarrassing part for Ryan Day. I know Michigan is a well-built football team, but you didn't, they didn't have their best player in Blake Coram and they still embarrassed you. Well, that's the best part about Michigan though.

Like that's why I love them, right? Is they're not player dependent. I mean, if CJ Stroud goes out for Ohio State, they're done. Guess what? Michigan started Cade McNamara last year and got the same result, changed their quarterback and Cade McNamara is now in the transfer portal.

After starting early in the season, they got hurt there in the midway point of the season and opted to have season ending surgery. Like they're not player dependent, man. Hey, hey, guess what? Hey, Coram can't go today, buddy. Hey, don't even go in there and go for 170 in the fourth quarter alone.

He had the best rushing performance in the game since 1995 and that was Tim Biakupetuka who went for over 300. So, I mean, it's, they're not player dependent. That's, that's what I love about them. Like if Ohio State loses CJ Stroud or if USC loses, if USC loses Caleb Williams or if Alabama loses Bryce Young, they're, they're done. In a big time situation, like big time situation. I mean, you might tell me that, and I look, Ohio State at one point, I don't need to remind everybody of this. They were not player dependent. They lost JT Barrett. They lost Braxton Miller and in comes Cardale Jones, some third string quarterback that nobody had ever heard of.

And he leads them to three consecutive victories and route to a national championship, wins a big 10 in his first start, beats Alabama in his second in the semifinal and beats Marcus Mariota in the third for the national championship. So they at one point were player dependent, but they've kind of gotten away from that. And I think they just need to build a roster and a team. And I think it's tough nowadays, by the way, like the problem with Ohio State is they're so good at recruiting. You know what I mean? That's the thing. I mean, they're getting blue chip five star high profile players on the recruiting trail.

And I'm telling you, Zach, I think that hurts you in today's day and age. I'm not saying you don't want some, but I don't know if you want a team full of them. I think A&M learned that the hard way this year. I think Bama had some challenges from a week to week basis. Georgia is somehow figured it out.

I don't know how, but Kirby Smart has the recipe. But most teams that are completely stocked with five star talent, Clemson has that up and down performances all year long. There's a handful of teams that have recruited essentially blue trip team blue trip players across the entire roster. And they have inconsistent performance because guys that are top tier players have a tendency to be a little bit more prima donna. And I think that now in the NIL era, it can sometimes occasionally bite you. And I think there's going to be more high level three star guys with chip on their shoulders that are going to be taken as glue guys, if you will, to kind of keep a locker room together here in the years to come. Because it's changed quickly into a Wii game, into a Mii game. And the teams that prioritize the Wii, like Michigan, they're going to win out in the end. And Georgia, they're going to win out in the end.

So I think there's going to be some adaptation period for some of these programs, but ultimately they're going to figure it out. Greg McElroy here with us. About four or five weeks ago, I had a caller, Ohio State fan, ring us up and he said, guys, CJ Stroud is just very good. He's not great. What's your evaluation of the Ohio State quarterback? I think he's got a lot of tools. I think there's a lot of things to improve. I think he is extremely subpar in the pocket.

Pocket president, honestly, it's not really his fault. I mean, they get the ball out and when he's under duress, he struggles. For instance, on Saturday, best defense he's played this year, he goes four of 12 on third down for 81 yards and three picks. And they weren't really even getting pressure on him. That secondary was just awesome for Michigan. No, they were great.

Yeah. I mean, it was tight, tight window throws, you know, I mean, so that was on two picks, by the way, not three that was on third down. They got pressure on them three times. There were three times in the entire game. He was measured on third down.

And that way he went over three with a pick. Like if you make him move, he's in serious trouble. And in the NFL, it's all about can you throw off platform? Can you move off the spot? Can you make awkward body throws?

Can you stand and look down the barrel of a loaded gun, take a hit and still deliver the football accurately? I'm not convinced he can do those things right now. Like you watch Joe Burrow, we're talking about, look, he's still a first round pick.

Okay, so that's not getting twisted. But we're talking about potentially the number one overall pick here. You look at Joe Burrow in the pocket at LSU, that was his best attribute.

The guy would move in the pocket, would throw off platform, would jump and throw passes, would move one step, throw it quickly before the defender could turn around and get a hit on him. So I think that there is a lot still to showcase with CJ Stroud. I think another thing too is playing in big moments. I mean, that's something that concerns me a little bit. Twice now against the best defense on your schedule.

And you look like an average guy. So I have my doubts and my concerns about him at the next level. I think there's better prospects out there.

This went, I think, from being a no doubt surefire three quarterbacks in the top ten class. To now, I mean, you're drafting a couple of guys off tools, like CJ Stroud and Will Levis, maybe Anthony Richardson from Florida. You're drafting some guys off tools and you're drafting the guy with questionable size and Bryce Young. And I think Bryce Young is the best of the bunch. If he was CJ Stroud's size, it's a no brainer, right?

I think he's the best, but I also think his size concerns me. So it's going to be a really interesting draft season, I think, for these guys as they're going through that process. Greg McElroy here with us. So we know Georgia and Michigan are going to be in. TCU, I think, is in as well. I do believe USC is going to win this week, but if they don't, do you think the committee goes Ohio State or Alabama? Ohio State. The problem is you've got to look at three evils. Alabama, Tennessee, and Ohio State.

What is the least of the three evils? I mean, like one team got blown out on their home field against the team that might very well be ranked number one tomorrow night when the rankings come out. I mean, we don't know exactly where Michigan is going to be, but it's a pretty impressive victory, probably as good as anybody in the country this year. So Michigan might be one tomorrow.

If not, at worst, they're two, right? So you lose by 22 points to the number two team. Or do you like the team that lost twice, but lost close in both games against LSU, who's now nine and three, and against Tennessee, who's, of course, ten and two is also in the conversation.

So the head-to-head probably should factor in, but for whatever reason, the committee overlooked that last week. But Alabama won close on a handful of times, too. I mean, Texas A&M. There were some games in which it was tight for Alabama, and it was really uncomfortable. So yeah, people always point to, well, they lost two games, they lost so close. Yeah, I know, but they also won close, right?

So you got to kind of look at the bigger picture. I think Alabama was really good, but they've been inconsistent, and I understand why the committee has docked them, and they lost a couple games. So I think the committee, and then Tennessee, who got blown out by South Carolina, that loss doesn't look as bad right now, but they also lost convincingly against Georgia in a game that, yes, I know it was only 14 points on the scoreboard, 27-13. It was worse than that. Anybody that watched that. It was sideways, man.

So it was definitely sideways. So all that is kind of a roundabout way of saying the committee traditionally, and all we have to go on, this is a little bit like a court of law, we have to go off precedent. And the committee, even though it's a different set of 13 individuals every year, they have always prioritized the number of losses more so than who you lost to, and how significant the margin was. So it'll be interesting to see how they all unveil themselves tomorrow when they do the rankings, but I would anticipate it being Ohio State 5, Bama 6, Tennessee 7. Wrapping up with Greg Macor, I just want to go rapid fire here on coaching moves that have happened. Let's start off with one that caught a lot of people by surprise. I think it's a home run hire, Luke Fickle to Wisconsin.

Yeah, it's awesome. I mean, I think this is how you do it. I mean, I've been kind of critical of how Auburn's handled their situation. Like I said a second ago, we're emotional and irrational, and I think emotion would have led you to do the easy thing if you're Wisconsin, say, hey, we're going to promote Jimmy Leonard, remove the interim attack, he's our guy. You know, he's played for Rex Ryan, New York Jet, been at the DC level here for a while, like we want him to be our guy. They're actually the reason why they fired, he's actually the reason why they fired Paul Chris, they want to get a good long look at him in the interim.

Team played terrible last couple games. So you say, Hey, Jimmy, we appreciate all you've done for Wisconsin, but time to move on, man, we got to go with the best candidate. And you're not going to be a part of the staff.

He'll probably be a DC in the NFL, Jimmy's gonna be fine. But we're going to go with Fickle and we're going to let him have free reign to do what he wants to do. I love it. I thought it was just it was just the way you do it, man. It's the way you handle it. Like, hey, can't let emotions play a role here, but, you know, we're going to we're going to go in a different direction. Conversely, I know you'll probably ask me about Auburn. They just hired you, Freeze. They were initially going after Lane Kiffin, but they were expecting Lane Kiffin to retain Cadillac Williams, who is currently serving or was serving as the interim. And now you're telling me who's going to be on my staff. Lane's now like, all right, no, I don't know about this. I'll stay at Ole Miss, make nine million a year and be in a great spot and continue to lead something I've built. Auburn now goes to Plan B.

They end up with Hugh Freeze, who comes with a million skeletons in the closet. Do you love that hire? Like I just said a few moments ago, I'm fine with the hire.

I like it. I would have rather had Lane Kiffin, but I don't love that hire. Yeah, I mean, I'm like as a ball coach. Yeah, he's a good coach. Like, I mean, he's he wins. Right.

Like he wins. But unfortunately, you know, I think the hires a little uninspiring. I mean, it just feels kind of like Gus Malzahn all over again, a guy that they gassed two years ago.

You know, I mean, it's like I don't feel like there's any difference there. I just think that if I were them, I would have vetted way more options. There was some interest in Matt Rule by Auburn. And I think Matt Rule was willing to listen.

I don't think you would have taken it. I think he was willing to listen. So I would have thrown the kitchen sink at someone like Matt Rule or someone like Lane Kiffin before I settled on Hugh Freeze. It's already a really unpopular hire.

And a lot of the fans are are up in arms are very upset. And look, huge track record. He's a good coach. I mean, he's a good football coach. If that's all you care about is football, he's a good football coach.

He's going to win the win games for you, I think. But there's obviously a back story there with what transpired and how things went down at Ole Miss. And there's a lot of people that won't forget that and certainly won't let Auburn forget it, especially in the event that he struggles out of the gate. Matt Rule going to Nebraska. I've covered him since I was a college student at Temple. If you would ask me a month ago if Matt was going to be the coach of Nebraska, I would have said no.

But in the past two weeks, that started to seem like it was not only likely to happen, but it was definitely going to happen. Your reaction to Rule going to Nebraska? Well, I was, you know, he told he said no the first time like Trev Alberts went to him. He said, no, turned it down.

Trev Alberts did what, you know, the best AD and best ADs in the country would do. He said, I'm not I'm not accepting that. You're my guy. You're going to have to kick me out of your house. I'm going to go back to the drawing board. I'm going to put together a different proposal.

I'm going to rally the troops and the boosters. I'm going to put NIL money at the highest priority as humanly possible amongst them, make sure the boosters understand the importance of NIL. They now have gotten to 10 million dollars in NIL money, which rivals anybody in the country. And Nebraska, they don't play around when it comes to football.

Like, it's important to them. And I think Matt Rule sensed that. And he's never had resources like this. Now, he had great resources at Baylor. Not so much at Temple. Trust me, from year one to year two, the football team looked completely different. They once, Greg, they once asked me to fill in at practice because they were down so many offensive linemen.

No, I can. I'm not. Nothing surprises me with that. Like, he is a builder, man. And the thing that's cool about Matt Rule, and I just so appreciate his perspective, he has credibility in every single position group room. If you look, go type in his Wikipedia bio. The guy has coached linebackers, defensive line. He went from defensive line to quarterbacks.

He then went to tight ends. He's coached literally offensive line with the Giants. He's coached every position except for DBs and wide receivers on the field. Every single position he coached in college football and in the NFL, he's coached every position. So he can look, having spent time coaching that position exclusively at some point or at some spot in his college career, he can look at that position and identify a flaw. And he can fix it himself. Whereas other coaches have to delegate, he doesn't have to. He has credibility in that room because he's like, man, I coached it. This is how I did it. You do it how you think you should do it.

We'll combine, put our heads together, and let's try to get the best result. He's just a genius. In the NFL, he didn't have a quarterback. We've had people call in to the radio show like, Nebraska's dead.

It's a dead program. He's not going to win there. He didn't win the NFL. Look at his track record in the NFL. Dude, in the NFL, it doesn't matter. It does not matter if you don't have a quarterback. If your best option is a derby between P.J. Walker, Sam Darnold, and Baker Mayfield, you've got a major issue. And by the way, you were thrilled with your quarterback room relative to what you've had. I think the guy is really good, and he'll get Nebraska going again. It's just the job gets tougher when they get rid of the visions. Because the Big Ten West right now, put it this way, 8-4 Purdue is playing in the Big Ten championship. So the Big Ten West is about to get a lot tougher if they get rid of the visions, but either way, I think they knocked it out of the park.

I have 60 seconds left, Greg McElroy. Do you think Deion Sanders is going to be the next head coach of Colorado? Yes, I think he is.

I've been told there's a lot of presidents concerned about Prime Academy and the missteps that went down with that. He seems to keep talking about how he's an option for so many teams. I don't know how real that is. I know Colorado is real. He says there's others that have made offers to him.

I don't buy it. But yeah, I think he'll definitely take it. I think it's exactly what Colorado needs to do. They have to make a splash. No one's talked about Colorado football since 2007. So it's definitely time to try to get back into the front page of the news.

And certainly with Deion there, patrolling the sideline, they'll be able to do that. Greg McElroy, always appreciate the time. You're awesome. We appreciate it. Thank you. All right, I see you, buddy. Take your time out. Come on back. Zach Helms show CBS Sports Radio. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nicks. I'm in a rush to making money.

I'm not in a rush to hurt people. Fifteen years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore, but that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio, season two, the Dixie Mafia. Available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app, your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams. Pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. 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. I thought there was a lot that we could unpack from that Greg McElroy interview. I thought his evaluation of C.J. Stroud was spot on and really the quarterback draft class. Like, hey, you remember at the first two, three weeks of the season where you talked about Anthony Richardson, Hendon Hooker.

You look around Will Levis and then it was C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young. When it comes to the first round quarterback, so the guys that we thought were going to be first round quarterbacks, the only guy that I feel really good about is Bryce Young because he's done, even though Alabama is having a down year, he's done more with less where this is not your traditional Alabama team where they're loaded at the wide receiver position. But what we thought was going to be this loaded quarterback draft class of the first round to see what the narratives are going to be in the next few months is going to be fascinating. And it's why, unfortunately, as a fan of a team who's going to be in the race to try to get a quarterback, it's like you look around, it's like, you're right. Bryce Young, I think is by far number one. And he's shown you through the two years you started.

I don't care what the size. I'll take him. I agree.

After that, it's like, honestly. For the Colts specifically, selfishly, like you hope I was making a choice, a punt to get in a quarterback in the future, I would call San Francisco, say Trey Lance, what's the deal? I would trust and see what Trey Lance is, you know, what the deal for him. He hasn't played in like two or three years, pretty much.

Levis, Richardson. Yeah, it's just there's a lot of guys that, like Greg said, a lot of you're kind of buying on their traits and see if you can get the most out of them. But that's a massive risk if you get the wrong coach or just they just can't get to that level.

So it's a swing and a miss. Now, if that went down at Auburn the way that Greg said it did, that they wanted Lane Kiffin and we think or we know they wanted Lane Kiffin. And it was you had to take Cadillac Williams on the staff and I would have no problem but a Cadillac Williams on the staff. But if you're hiring someone to be the coach, you don't tell them who to put on your staff.

Like you make a suggestion. But at the end of the day, he should have the power to decide who's going to be on his staff, especially when it's such a big name like Lane Kiffin and you're not even on the job yet. And it'll be one thing if you failed for two, three years and they go, OK, we advise you. We're telling you to do this.

You're going to lose your job. But if that is true that they were trying to force certain guys on his staff, shame on Auburn because that's the guy that you wanted. You didn't get him because he said thanks, but no thanks. And he was very down on Hugh Freeze. I said I liked the Hugh Freeze hire.

I did not love it. He was he did not like the process and the way that this went about at Auburn. Two things I did see after the interview, Barrett Solis, someone who's an Auburn grad, great CBS sports college football reporter, did say that, at least according to his sources, it looks like Cadillac Williams will be retained to kind of put a little bit more merit to that report that Hugh Freeze.

I mean, look, you're at Liberty. He wants to get back in the SEC. It sounds like he was more willing to have those staff changes, let's say, made and agree with him than Lane Kiffin was. Which you're right. If you're going to be the coach, call it as you see it. But the one thing Greg said, I think I agree with, he wins.

He does. We've seen plenty of coaches. Urban Meyer recently as well.

Questionable background. If you're Auburn and you desperately want to get back to a level of competing with Alabama, winning national titles and being relevant again. Winning wins. But you didn't get your top choice. Now it may work out, but Auburn, they've lost the benefit of the doubt because you had Gus Malzahn there, who was a really good coach, but ran its course. And the big hire last year or two years ago, we know it wasn't their preferred choice, but you had to settle for Brian Harsin.

That was a disaster. And now it's, you could have got your number one guy. And if it was just simple as you weren't going to let him fully pick his staff and try to force someone on the staff, which he may have taken the guy anyway, who knows? But you went and said you had to take him, if that's true.

And you mentioned the whole Barrett Salih report, which I think does show that it is true. It's just like, man, that's why you lost your guy? That seems sloppy. And now we'll have to wait and see to see if it does work out with Hugh Freeze. Deion Sanders, he made it seem like he was definitely going to Colorado. And I probably would agree with him. And we know, and I think Deion Sanders could be a really good Power Five coach. I thought he would get a bigger job than Colorado. And that's still not for sure that he's going to Colorado, even though Greg McElroy said he thinks it will happen.

I would think his analysis on the back end of that was right. When Deion says today, Colorado is not the only school that's really interested in me. I don't know how much I believe in that because we keep on hearing about Deion Sanders.

And we've done a marvelous job with an HBCU at Jackson State. But you keep on hearing about Deion Sanders' next job and he hasn't taken that next job yet. And if he's going to have to settle in Colorado, it makes you feel like the jobs aren't there in as much frequency as he would like to make it out to be. Clearly, there's a lot of concerns.

Clearly, there's, you know, red flags that other schools just willing not take the risk on. And like I said, if he truly wants to be an SEC coach or a big time coach or Florida State's next coach, whenever Mike Norvell's tenure does run out, you know, or expires sooner or later, I think he's going to have to take a stepping stone job like Colorado would be in order to kind of prove himself that he can handle the duties and responsibilities of a big boy power five job. It's light years different than coaching Jackson State. And I think he could handle it.

I really do. And I especially think of this NIL era. It's different how we kind of look at these coaching hires. I think from a recruiting standpoint, he would be phenomenal. I really do believe that.

But you are right, there is added pressure and there's more attention when you get inside the power five. And then finally, not college football related, but I just want to go rapid fire here, Hickey. Let's go. I'll give you the name of this quarterback that has emerged on the scene and you give me your first thought. Mike White with his performance yesterday, three passing touchdowns, two to Garrett Wilson, one to Elijah Moore as the Jets beat up on the Bears.

Simple and efficient. Did what he was supposed to do. Started for the rest of the season. I think Mike White has to play two bad games in a row for him to get bench. And I know they have Minnesota and Buffalo. If you just weather the storm after that, you have Detroit. You have Jacksonville, Seattle and then Miami, the last game of the season. I think Mike White is going to start the rest of the year because this team believes in him.

You saw that. Zach Wilson had 77 passing yards in an entire game. Mike White on the first drive almost eclipsed that. I know the Bears defense stinks, so you got to see him up against a legit defense, especially with no Roberts Quinn anymore.

And Roquan Smith is no longer there. But I think Mike White is going to be, I'm not telling you that they're going to be great, but I do think Mike White is going to start the rest of the year. Taylor Hamhineke did not play great, but another game that he won, a tremendous defensive play at the end with Payne and Fuller on the pick six, which was just wonderful to see.

Especially because I was on the winning side of it in the gambling world. But talking about belief, Taylor Hamhineke, this team just believes in him, which they did not believe in Carson Wentz. Carson Wentz is a better physical quarterback when you look at all the attributes and the tools with what he could be. But Taylor Hamhineke is just winning games with the Washington Commanders.

They have totally salvaged their season. Team rally's around him. Like I said, that's his biggest attribute right now. His biggest strength going for him is not his arm or his accuracy or his decision making. It's the fact that he is a great locker room guy that the team truly does get inspired with in rally round. And finally, Jordan Love.

Played well coming off the bench. Rogers now with a rib injury. We also know about the broken thumb. We know the Packers aren't making the playoffs. Rogers says as long as they're not mathematically eliminated, he wants to play.

Okay, I respect that. I do believe Rogers is back next year unless he wants to kind of force a trade. And maybe he does that with them regressing in the record department, especially though he just did sign an extension there. But I would think that Aaron Rodgers is back next year, but I kind of do think he'd get the best of both worlds right now where you bench. Not bench Aaron Rodgers. You put him on IR and have him out for the rest of the season, rest up. And maybe he is their guy again next year and he wants to be there.

Who knows? But you've got to see what Jordan Love could do at this point because if your quarterback is this banged up and Rodgers is clearly hurting. It's remarkable how he's been able to play through this. What's the point of playing him at this point with nothing to play for? Shouldn't play yesterday.

It's stupid the fact that they're playing. They're only hurting themselves. If he is back next year, because I'm not sold on, Aaron Rodgers is back next year.

All you're doing is risking him hurting his thumb and body worse to where he could be out for the offseason or even out starting next year. Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nix. I'm interested in making money.

I'm not interested in hurting people. 15 years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore, but that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio. Season 2, The Dixie Mafia. Available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations. Coverage of your favorite teams. Live news from your hometown. And millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams. Pause or rewind your local sports and news. And add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nix. I'm in a rush to making money.

I'm not in a rush to hurting people. Fifteen years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore, but that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio. Season 2, The Dixie Mafia. Available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show. Extra, extra real about it.

Extra, extra real about it. Time for your daily news brief. We get you caught up on the rumors, reports, and reconnaissance from the day in sports. This season, for the first time, you can hear every Westwood One NFL broadcast stream live for free Mondays, Thursdays, Sunday nights, the International Series, holiday triple headers at every postseason game. Catch all the action on the Odyssey app on westwoodonesports.com via Westwood One station streams or by asking Alexa to open Westwood One Sports, all sponsored by AutoZone. It's time to say goodnight to that check engine light with the free AutoZone fix finder service.

It will help troubleshoot the likely cause of your light for free. Restrictions apply. Get in the zone, AutoZone. Let's hear from Matt LaFleur.

This is from today. Aaron Rodgers dealing with a rib injury. We know he has a broken thumb, and he says Aaron Rodgers will start if he's healthy. Matt, if he's deemed healthy enough to play, will he play?

Yes. Does that hold for the entirety of the final five games, or is that a conversation? Well, I think, you know, just you guys know how I work in terms of one day at a time, one game at a time. So, you know, I know that he was asked about that yesterday and what he said, and we have not even gone down that road. Let's hear from Aaron Rodgers on if he wants to remain the starter with all these injuries. As long as we're mathematically alive, I'd like to be out there. He's always calculated with his words, as long as they're mathematically alive.

What he's telling you is, I'm not ready, at least publicly, to say that I'm going to shut it down. They could lose the division. They'd be like, we know they're not going to win the division. They're 4-8. Minnesota's 9-2. Minnesota's going to win the division. But Minnesota can clinch the NFC North this weekend with a win up against the Jets, and they need a loss for the Lions up against the Jaguars. Now, they would still be alive for a wildcard spot after this weekend, but we know that's not happening. The NFC East has the Giants and the Commanders, both with seven wins already.

So good luck trying to get a wildcard spot. So what, he'll own Chicago this weekend if he plays? And I don't even know if he's going to play this weekend. Then there's a bye week. You play the Rams. They could win those two games. But after that, you play Miami and Minnesota. What makes me think that they're going to beat Miami and Minnesota? And then at that point, you'll have maybe, if you get those wins, six wins. And then after that, you play the, like, there's no path for this team. That's why if your quarterback's banged up and you're committed to him to the future financially, Hickey, this is easy.

You sit him at this point. I wasn't ready to say this last week. I wasn't ready to say this two weeks ago. But at this point, nothing's changing. They have had one win since October 9th.

One win. And the excuses built in, put them on IR, rib injuries, oblique, thumb. It's not, oh Aaron Rodgers is a bad teammate. He doesn't want to play. He doesn't care.

You're legitimately hurt. And you get to then evaluate Jordan Love for the future. Let's go to Robert Saleh. He says Mike White executed the offense really well. It was good to see Loggia get some production. Same thing with all our receivers.

We had a plethora of them. And just thought he did a really good job distributing the ball. And like I said, I thought Mike did a really good job calling the game and opening up a lot of stuff for a lot of different guys. I think Mike White's going to be the star for the rest of the year for the Jets. And I'm not ready to say that Zach Wilson is dunzo in New York because is there a chance that he's a starter next year? Yeah, if Mike White doesn't play well. But they're going to be looking to upgrade the quarterback position this offseason and we'll see if they can land. And Hickey, you know that better than everyone.

It's sometimes easier said than done. Very much so. Let's go to Mike Purcell. He was the defensive lineman that got into it yesterday with Russell Wilson. Basically telling Russell Wilson, let's go. We need you.

Can you do something? And let's hear what Mike had to say on what led to his outburst towards Russell Wilson. Frustration. We want a spark on something.

We all are in this together, period. So you know, that's the quarterback of our offense. They're about to take the field. Obviously we let up a touchdown, so we weren't doing our job. But got to get a spark somewhere. So they're about to take the field, so that's all it was.

You have no margin of error. That's what it is. The Panthers, when they scored their first touchdown, you felt like it was over. And it was done in that game. And the Panthers are not the last time I checked this great football team.

And you know what also shows me, Hickey? That locker room does not respect Russell Wilson. Because we've seen a lot of great, well-respected quarterbacks in this league sometimes have bad moments. And you usually see the quarterback yelling at the teammates.

You very rarely, unless it's a wide receiver going after a quarterback because he's not getting the ball, you very rarely see a defensive player going after the quarterback. I'm actually surprised it took this long. It's Week 12. And we heard a lot of rumors. Derek Wolf, who joined us very early in the season, and shed some light on what was actually going on in that locker room. Let's hear Russell Wilson discuss his interaction with Mike. Mike and I are on the same page. He came off after they kicked the field goal. He was pissed off.

He just said, we've got to F and go. And I agree. So me and him on the same page.

There's no animosity there at all. We're on the same page. We've got to win. We've got to come out here and have some grit to us, some mentality to us. We've got to be able to win these football games. So those guys are out there battling every play on offense.

We've got to be able to capitalize. So there's nothing there at all, me and him. There's nothing there.

Yeah, not really convincing when you have to say there's nothing there 9,000 times. That's brutal. That's a bad look right there.

And I can't really blame Mike for going after Russell Wilson. He's 100% right. And I don't think, Kiki, that was, oh, let's F and go. I think that was more, you stink right now. We just traded a king's ransom to get you. And you just got all this money and you have not had a good game this year. That's what that looked like to me. Not let's go.

You got to go. And not for nothing. Not like Mike Purcell is this creme de la creme football player. You know, this is not an Aaron Donald or someone on the defensive side of the ball, which makes it almost even more alarming.

That's a great point. It's not been a journeyman football player. It's not like Von Miller, who's there for like 15 years in Denver, yelling at Russell Wilson. This is a guy who's this guy was undrafted by Oming that has been on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 teams. He was on the Salt Lake Stallions. Eight teams. I don't even know what that is. That's an AAF team.

That might be forget even USFL. That might be AAF. This was a guy that was on an AAF team.

That's bad. And this is the new face of your franchise in Russell Wilson. And Mike's saying, yeah, we have no respect for him. He's been horrible.

He got all this money. Bronco's country. Let's ride has been a disaster. Oh, yeah.

I'll tell you, Hickey, I love you. This is the worst prediction you've ever had. Nathaniel Hackett, you said it was going to be a better coach this year than Bill Belichick. Russell Wilson, you said, was going to win the league MVP, the Super Bowl MVP, clearly win the Super Bowl.

You were all in on this Broncos team. This is on you, bud. Well, it's not on me. It's on Russell Wilson.

How about you complete a pass? I mean, making the Panthers defense look like the 85 Bears out there. It's awful. Ryan Day says he is the most to blame for a second straight loss. Not just a second straight loss, a second straight beat down by Michigan. We'll figure out what's next.

I don't know exactly what is next right now, but that's life at Ohio State. I certainly know what this game means to everybody. And so when you lose, it all comes back to me. I'm the head coach, and that's what probably hurts the most. He sounds lost. For a guy that's won a lot of games, he seems like he has no answers. When you get up there after a loss like that, yeah, we got to talk about what's next.

I don't even know what's next. Jim Harbaugh beating Ohio State again. So proud of him.

Couldn't be more proud. I knew the team was focused and determined as they have been all season. And this is a locker room of heroes.

We talked about it last night. There will be one or two heroes. We need a whole team of them. It was a great team win. I love that. Jim Harbaugh went from down and out.

No one believed in him. You're going to get fired from your alma mater. Remember, took a pay cut just to be back. And then beats the snot out of Ohio State. Not once, but twice. And is going to be in another college football playoff. Finally, let's check in with Kyler Murray after another loss. No, it wasn't.

That wasn't for hop, actually. Schematically, I mean, they kind of, we were kind of f***ed. Each and every week, it seems like Cliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray, who were on the same page, right, they loved one another.

They keep on seeing like they are growing and drifting further and further apart. They were like a couple that was married for the first year and it was great. And then the second year, it's all signs that you don't like. Third year, signs that you really don't like.

And then fourth year, divorce. I know that he has a contract extension, Cliff Kingsbury. We know Kyler Murray's not going anywhere and he just got extended, too. But Cliff's extended through 2027 at this rate. I don't see how he's making it.

I don't see how he's going to be the coach next year. Zach Gelb show CBS Sports Radio know how to offense next. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nix. I'm in a rush to making money.

I'm not in a rush to hurting people. Fifteen years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore, but that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio. Season two, the Dixie Mafia. Available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown, and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams. Pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to. So get started and download the free Odyssey app today.