Cole Cubelic, Former Auburn Offensive Lineman

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Download the 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. Cole, how you been? Hey Zach, doing well. Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving.

You too. What is your Thanksgiving spread like? Because I know you're a large man, so therefore you usually probably would have good food.

And that comes from another big fella myself, so I could say that. Thankfully here in the South, we have sides that are essentially desserts, like strawberry pretzel salad and sweet potato casserole that have no business being sides. They should absolutely be desserts. So I essentially load up on like four or five desserts. I have a go-to where I take the rolls and I make what I call Thanksgiving sliders. Take a little dressing or stuffing, gravy, turkey, throw it on one of those rolls and just knock down a couple of little mini sandwiches and you're good to go. What is the preparation like for the turkey? Do you guys fry the turkey?

You know, you'd have to ask my mother-in-law or my father-in-law about that because I have absolutely nothing to do with it, but I'm very good at consuming it. And that's my job on Thanksgiving Day. Now, I usually have to close the whole church on this because, you know, we go into the off-season mode, but I've been a big proponent of saying that turkey is overrated. I'm not a huge fan of turkey. Do you agree with that at all? You think turkey gets too much hype? No, I love it. I think it's great and, you know, I think obviously because we don't have it many times a year, it's that much better on that day.

But no, I'm not huge on turkey year-round, but Thanksgiving? Load it up. I'm good to go. Will Kublick here with us at the Zach Gelb show. Okay, let's get to the college football playoff rankings. Georgia 1, Michigan 2, TCU 3, USC 4, Ohio State 5, Alabama 6.

No surprises there. We know Georgia's in, we know Michigan's in. I think TCU is a lock regardless of this weekend. Would you agree with that already?

I think it's really close. Some of the things, some of the way that the committee discussed TCU and other teams early in the season really makes me nervous about that being a lock. I think this is a very odd committee. They've said some weird things and done some weird things. You look at where Alabama dropped to after their first loss and then where Tennessee dropped to after their first loss and the differential between those two spots.

It didn't make any sense. A lot of what came out the first three weeks of those rankings was how often teams score, how much teams score, how fast teams score. Last time I checked, Zach, there's three stages of football and it's not just scoring points. It was one of the reasons that I thought Michigan should have been ranked higher than they had been before last week is because I thought they were a well-rounded football team and a better team than some of the teams in front of them. So it does make me nervous that they spent so much time talking about how TCU had to come back late, how other teams scored more points faster than they did, which would lead to they think more highly of Ohio State than TCU. I think it will be close.

I really do. I would not agree with you that they are an absolute lock to get in. Unfortunately, because I thought TCU should have been in the top four way before they were based on the schedule that they had played. When they ran through five consecutive ranked teams, I don't understand what anyone's issue was. I don't care if they scored a hundred.

I don't care if they scored two. They won the games against quality opponents and they did it back to back to back to back to back weeks and I felt like they deserved more respect than what they got. I love what you said about Alabama and Tennessee because I saw the explanation tonight how it was point differential and Tennessee got blown out in their losses, but Tennessee beat Alabama. It's like, yeah, Alabama, their two losses have only been by a combined four points. They're very close to being undefeated, but they're not and they lost to Tennessee.

I know we're nitpicking because it's 6-7. Neither of those teams are going to make the college football playoff, but you're right. It makes no sense how right now Alabama is 6 and Tennessee is 7. It should be flip-flopped. Essentially, Zach, we don't need to play the games. If that's the case, we don't need to play the games and I understand that South Carolina you could probably view as a worse loss than what Alabama has this season, but Tennessee is one of those losses. Therefore, when you have resumes that are that close and you have to do the things that you just started to describe and you have to get to your 15th and 25th and 52nd data point to decide who's better or not, hell, I'll give you the data point that matters more than any. Who won when they played?

That should be the difference. I'm sorry, there's no defending it. There's nothing that you can give me that's going to make me say, you know what, you're right. Alabama should be in front of Tennessee. I'm with you on that. Absolutely.

There is literally zero information that you can give me that is going to shift my opinion on that in any shape, form or fashion. Cole Kublick, if TCU and USC both lose this weekend, who's the top four? This is where the committee gets in trouble, right? Because how is it not just Ohio State, Alabama? I'm all for moving teams each and every week. I'm fine if you had TCU one week and then you didn't like them and you put them down to four the next week. I kind of hate the fact that we don't move teams near as much as we probably should throughout the course of the year. But to just say that there are other teams that now automatically that did not play that could potentially be in front of those teams, I don't get it.

I don't know. And if those were competitive games and good games that came down to the wire against quality opponents, why would you automatically drop them below teams that did not play, that did not qualify to play on that day? I unfortunately think it would be Ohio State and TCU. I think the schedule that USC has, the lack of big wins would probably work against them or what the committee would view as big wins. Now the good news for USC is they've done some heavy lifting here late. Obviously, Notre Dame is a logo game.

That's the game that's going to give people's attention. A team like Tennessee, they haven't been able to benefit from that because Missouri's not that team. And then obviously Vanderbilt wasn't going to be that team. But I'm kind of guessing on what the committee would do and I'm just going to go TCU and I'm going to go Ohio State.

Cole Kublick here with us. For USC, when you look at them this weekend in the Pac-12 championship game, I know earlier in the year they lost to Utah. They had a big lead. They blew it.

Cam Rising was great. I got to thank USC. I know Utah's a heck of a team. They had college football playoff aspirations before the start of the year. The way they're playing right now, I got to think they're going to get redemption against Utah this weekend.

Yourself? I think so. I mean, the turnover margin is completely insane. Plus 22 is just, we haven't seen many things like it and people will say, well, oh, Iowa just did this last year. No, Iowa was like plus 15 in one game in the first quarter of the season.

They just kind of held on throughout the rest of the year. USC has gotten, they jumped up two more spots in the turnover margin this past weekend against Notre Dame. You look at the fact that they've lost four turnovers all year.

It's completely insane. The way that Caleb Williams has protected the football, I understand there's some good fortune that goes with some of the fumbles that you put on the ground to be able to get them back. But they are having success running the football. The biggest surprise of that football team to me, outside of just being where they are, is what Josh Henson's done with that offensive line. It has been unbelievable.

It's not even close to what it was a season ago. They got kids playing very physical. They're getting after it. They finish.

It's been fun to watch that group grow. They've got some veterans up front and they can hit you in a lot of different ways. They can utilize tempo. They can spread the field sideline to sideline. They can go vertical and obviously hit you over the top of the defense. They're just so tough to defend because they have great skill in so many places and they have a physical element that they can add as well. Defensively, I don't think they're great, but it's okay. Because when your offense is that good, you just need a defense to kind of hold on for dear life and just be there to keep you from getting in a lot of trouble and that offense is lights out. They might have the Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback. They've got a Joe Moore award finalist. It's that offensive line. They're crazy good and I do not see them going down to Utah again this weekend.

Cole Kublick here with us. We were talking about this earlier in different degrees. I want to ask you one question about that really quick because we debated this on my show. Would USC have benefited in your opinion more to get a hot Oregon team? Obviously, they would have needed to knock off Oregon State and what happened in the last four drives of that game was insane. Or is it better for them to get redemption against a team that they previously lost to? I think it would have been better for Oregon. I'm with you on that. There are people who will say, well, if you get Utah, then you beat every team on your schedule and it's kind of like, well, yeah, but you lost one of the teams on your schedule.

So that's going to be there no matter what. Why not go get a different team that was playing good football at that time? Yeah, so I don't think you're wrong in what you said.

I just think I look at it the other way. Hey, if they lose the game, they're not getting in. But if you lose twice to Utah, I think it's just easier for the committee to then just slide up Ohio State. Sure, sure.

So here's my question for you. We've never seen a year where all four teams the way that it would be right now have all exceeded expectations to make the college football playoff because usually Alabama is always there. You know, you look at Clemson, they're usually always there. Georgia was three in the eight people before the start of the season. Michigan was eight. USC was 14. TCU, no one in their right mind was even talking about them. What does that say about college football that we have a chance that all four teams are going to be the college football playoff exceeded expectations this year? Yeah, I mean, I understand where you're coming from, but I wouldn't classify Georgia with where I would, you know, maybe Michigan and TCU. Yeah, like Georgia, I thought they were going to be the college football playoff, but right now the conversation for the last few weeks is Georgia over the field. You know, I didn't know if we were going to get to that point with how much they lost.

Absolutely. And I would offer you transfer portal and NIL. And this transfer portal allows you to reshape your roster and not just a piece here and a piece there, but you can completely flip your roster in a year. You go look at Ole Miss this year and I think that, you know, for their top five rushers, I think 80% of the guys who recorded a sack, all three kids who had an interception this year, like 90% of their passing yards, you know, for their top five receivers, I think are all transfers. And if not for Quinn, John Judkins coming in and being the best freshmen running back in America, you would even go further with that, of the production that they would be getting from transfers because Zach Evans was a little banked up this year. So it just shows you that you can completely overhaul your roster and maybe not even just be competitive or sort of keep you competitive, but you can go out and all of a sudden be a team that competes for a spot in the playoff. And then I think NIL, what that's going to do, it's going to hold on to guys. So moving forward, and there were a couple of them this year that kind of looked at it and said, okay, I think that that's going to be a better place for me to be.

So I'm gonna go over there. Or instead of going to their NFL draft and getting drafted in the fourth or fifth round, they come back, they play another year of college football, they make pretty good money doing it. And that's a veteran that you can depend on, rely on, understand the speed, the physicality, how to handle himself at practice, who knows how to go about going to class and doing different things like that.

Hell, half of them that are that age probably don't even have to go into class anymore because they're graduates. So I think those two things have just reshaped what roster management is and what your roster can be in college football in a very short period of time. Would you go Georgia or would you go with the field right now to win it all? I would go with the field because even though this Georgia rushing attack has been great over the last couple of weeks, I still don't think their offense is one that I would classify as high powered. I do think that if you can physically match up with them up front, it's kind of why I think the SEC Championship game is going to be closer than people think. I think LSU's defensive line physically is going to be able to hold up. Their front seven will hold up. Georgia does not just play bully ball out of the gate. Now they've had a couple of games where they've taken over late and that rushing game has gotten going with Kenny McIntosh here over the last couple of games. But they're not overly dynamic at wide receiver. Yes, Brock Bowers is a complete mismatch, but there are games that they don't necessarily force feed him the football in the manner that I think that they should. And I just don't think overall they have as many guys that you just can't handle and can't deal with and can't manage on that defense, specifically at the second level.

They don't have the erasers that they did a year ago at the second and third level. Now you've got to stay away from Keely Ringo. Just don't throw it his direction. You got to understand how to handle a couple of the guys up front like Jalen Carter. But they're not all over the place like they were a season ago. And I think there are a couple of teams that some of that you've mentioned, I mean, TCU, they're going to spread you out. USC is going to spread you out.

You had a quarterback run to that. Some of you are going to see LSU do this weekend. And you can neutralize a lot of what Georgia has. And I would really be interested to see if a team did find something against them offensively and turned it into a bit of a track meet, how that Georgia offense would then operate. So with the way USC can score, with the way TCU can score, I actually think this year's Michigan team could get into a heavyweight title fight against Georgia and hold up. Last year they couldn't do that. This year I think they can. Would love to see that game. It would be an absolute bloodbath.

It would be beautiful football. And I just think that when you're talking about the teams that are potentially going to be in, there are some real headaches for what Georgia is and how Georgia can be managed this year. Cole Kubelik, where are you at with your alma mater hiring Q Freeze? Do you love it? Do you like it?

Do you hate it? I think it gives Auburn a good chance to win a lot of football games in the future and probably in the near future. All things are, a lot of things are now aligned for Auburn to be able to do that. Brand new football facility that does not take a back seat to anybody in the country. The NIL is under control.

On to victory. They've gotten that thing scheduled and fixed up. They know what they're doing there.

And the main part I think is that the people who make the decisions, the people who want certain things, they give a lot of money to the school. This is what they wanted. So you know what? Screw it. Lean into it.

Make those guys happy. But make sure that NIL fund is loaded and stocked every year so you can get talent. We know Hugh can coach. We know he can do more with less.

And I think if he can continue to find a way to get that talent to Auburn as opposed to Oldness or Liberty, he's going to find a way to win some football games. Does it concern you though? We know the guy could coach. But sometimes he's his own worst enemy with a lot of things that have been documented in the past. How much does that concern you?

Mental and emotional toughness is going to have to be better than it's been in the past. There's no doubt about it. I don't care about the stuff that happened at Old Miss.

The NCAA almost doesn't exist anymore. That doesn't matter. He has dealt in the public eye with what happened to him as far as the off-the-field transgressions. I would be a complete fool to judge somebody for things that I had done in my past and knowing I've gotten second and third and fourth and fifth and twentieth chances.

So I don't worry about any of that stuff. The situation at Liberty, I think people should probably do a little bit more due diligence and actually look into the timing on that and how it was and where it was. It's an unfortunate situation that took place no matter what.

Did he make a bad move by sending some of the things that he did as far as just a personal decision? Absolutely. But I do think it pretty much stops there.

But being able to be bothered and affected by things that people say and do, that's going to have to change or that's at least going to have to be a lot better. Because you now have a couple of fan bases that it's going to be attack mode every single day, Zach. I'm talking about Alabama and Georgia. They now have a reason to go after him. Mississippi State, Old Miss, they got a reason to go after him. His old boss is the AD at Texas A&M. That's a lot of schools with a lot of reasons in their minds, whether it's right, wrong, and different, that they think that they can go after you every day.

That's got to be managed, and it's got to be managed well. In your opinion, why isn't Lane Kiffin the head football coach of Auburn? I just think he had a personal decision that he needed to be at Old Miss, whether that was his family, whether that was that they got the Grove Collective in a place where he thought it was going to be good moving forward. The extension that Keith Carter got him.

I think he took a step back and looked at it and said, man, I built something really good here. I've made this a destination job. This is a place where we can come win, even if I lose my starting quarterback and two or three of my starting receivers. Even if my offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator leave, if my strength coach leaves, we can still win here. We can be competitive with Alabama. We can push for ten wins every year. And if we find some depth every few years, we might be able to push for a spot in the playoffs. And I think the playoff expansion probably had something to do with that as well. Because a lot of people tell you, well, Ole Miss can't win a national championship. When we get to 12, Ole Miss gets in and they have a quarterback that can absolutely get it or an offense that can put up 700 yards.

You get hot in a couple of games, you never know what could happen. So I think you just realize he's got a really good situation. And I think some of the people behind the scenes did a really nice job stepping up and doing the things that needed to be done in his mind. They kept him there. Before we let you run, last one for Cole Kublick is always great when he joins us on the Zach Gelb show. Matt ruled to Nebraska. Luke Fickel going to Wisconsin. Ken Dillingham going back to Arizona State. You know, Brent Key interim tagger moved. He's going to be at Georgia Tech. What stands out to you from the coaching hiring outside of your alma mater with Auburn? Well, listen, Brent Key's my guy.

You're going to tell me that a former offensive lineman that actually played at that school, that's been an offensive line coach and going to be able to get it done. He'll pour his heart into that thing. He loves it. He understands it and he relates well to the kids.

The kids love playing for him. I think he's going to have success there in Atlanta. And the two that you mentioned first, I mean, Luke Fickel's an absolute home run hire for Wisconsin. I think he'll bring the offense into the 21st century, something that's needed to happen for a long time. I think that there was a little bit of being stuck in the past that needed to happen at Wisconsin.

That's a very proud program. And I think him coming in and trying to do some of that will be great for them. And listen, Matt Rule is the Bob the Builder of college football coaches, man. Like, he will get that thing right. He's not going to go in there hard-headed and say, no, we're going to run this offense with this kind of guy this way. He'll figure it out based on what he has.

They've got their NIL situation conquered. I think he's been in enough places. I mean, think about he's been at Baylor. He's been at Temple.

He's been at the Panthers. He's going to be able to recruit at a national level just based on the relationships that he's acquired over the last decade. And I think Matt Rule's a great hire for Nebraska. I think he's exactly what they need, someone that can come in and take a little bit of a different approach, have the understanding that it's probably not going to look exactly the way that we need it to because we don't just run one offense one way and he'll be able to get talent in there. He'll be able to move guys around, develop them. Like I said, he's a builder and he will build that thing back to be a proud program again. Cole Kublick, you're always great.

I can talk college football with you for an hour. I appreciate the time. As always, thanks so much.

Enjoy the rest of the season. Absolutely, Zach. Thanks for having me, man. 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. 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.