Georgia Or The Field To Win CFP? (Hour 4)

And away we go. Fourth and final hour of our radio program on a Tuesday. This is Zach Yell coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. We're coming to you live from The Rocket Mortgage Studios. Whether you're looking to purchase a new home or refinance yours, Rocket Mortgage can help you get there for home loan solutions that fit your life well.

Rocket can. Let's go out to the hotline right now. Welcome in. One of our favorites to talk college football with and that of course is Cole Kublick. Cole, how you been?

Hey Zach, doing well. Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving. You too. What is your Thanksgiving spirit? Thank you. I'm pretty good at it. I'm not really a big fan of the word spread like because I know you're a large man, so therefore you usually probably would have good food.

Yeah, 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 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 a good. 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 offseason mode, but I've been a big proponent of saying that Turkey is good. 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. 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. Do 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'll be close.

I really do. I don't I would not agree with you that they are an absolute lock to get in, unfortunately, because I thought TCU should be 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 100. 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 deserve more respect than what they got. 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's 6 and Tennessee is 7.

It should be flip-flopped. I mean, 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, you know, South Carolina you could probably view as a worse loss than what Alabama has this season. But Tennessee is one of those losses. So, 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? And that should be the difference. So, 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? And that's, I'm all for moving teams each and every week. I'm fine if you had TCU won 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. I mean, obviously Notre Dame is a logo game.

That's a game that's going to get people's attention. I mean, 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 think 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 and 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 and they just kind of held on throughout the rest of the year. USC has gotten, I mean, 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. So, 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. So, we were talking about this earlier in different degrees, but 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 teen? 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 because... 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. Like Georgia, I thought they were going to be in 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, 90% of their passing yards, you know, for their top five receivers, I think are all transfers. And if it's 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. Cause 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, 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, 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 going to 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. 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 you can just, 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.

That 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've 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 that you've mentioned, I mean, TCU, they're going to spread you out.

USC is going to spread you out. You add a quarterback run to that, something you're 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 Kublick, 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 backseat to anybody in the country.

The NIL is under control, on to victory. They've got nothing 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 Ole Miss 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 worse 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 Ole 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 20th 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, Ole Miss, they've 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 Ole 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 Fickle 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 Fickle'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. 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 enough places. I mean, think about it. 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 is 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 could 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. There's Cole Kublick. Always great when he joins us.

That helps you. CBS Sports Radio will come on back. Subscribe to your weirdest fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Usually you ask me the questions here, Hickey. I have a question for you.

Roll reversal. Earlier in the week, we were talking, well, over the week yesterday, we were talking about who the most disappointing team is in the NFL and the three teams we discussed. Denver Broncos, the Green Bay Packers and Los Angeles Rams. Russell Wilson. Overreaction to proper reactions.

Most disappointing player in the NFL this year. Has to be. Yeah.

Has to be the proper, proper reaction. Yeah. There's I asked you an obvious question there for a reason.

Okay. Maybe we could expand on this a little bit further tomorrow, but I love your hot takes and I love the instant reaction that hot take Hickey gives us. Who's the second most disappointing player in the NFL this year? Aaron Rodgers is in the conversation, although I would say, again, it's injury excuse injuries and the receivers is not all his fault. I mean, he's to blame, but it's not all on him.

Lamar Jackson's been kind of low key up and down. No one's been talking about it, but he's going to start tweeting you. Well, that's true. I'm not tagging. That's for sure. I promise that right now.

I'm not getting cursed out. Second most is that's trying to think, like, for the I want to, like, Devonta Adams not lived up to the contract so far, but at the same time, I don't think that's his fault per se. Chandler Jones, I think is one. Chandler Jones is definitely one. It's about the Adams has a thousand yards already.

I feel like his impact to him bigger. Maybe again, it's getting lost because the Raiders are losing to me. That's on me.

You're kind of equating success with losses. I'm going to throw one to you or wins. I'll throw one to you.

And maybe we'll do tomorrow. Top five disappointing players in the NFL this year. Colin Murray's got to be the list. Absolutely. Because not only has Colin Murray not played great.

There's been a and I get it. Cliff Kingsbury is not a good coach, but you have to be a great quarterback in order. And I know he gets paid like he's a great quarterback to be constantly fighting with your coach and weekend and week out. It seems like he's either throwing shade at his coach or being very direct about it and no choose for John Hopkins when you because when you get paid the big money, you are the guy and you got to step out.

No matter who's out there, make the guys around you better. He's absolutely not done that before Tom Brady's. Would you say Stafford? He's been disappointing. I would say there's a few others that are more. I think you can make a little bit more excuses for Tom Brady.

I think Stafford's more disappointing than Brady this year. Anyway, those were just some of the names that we will throw on out there. Okay.

What do you got asked? Let's stick with quarterbacks. Let's talk about actually good quarterback. Zach Mike White.

Great debut again or 2022 debut. I should say for the Jets. Three touchdowns over 300 yards, 75 completion percent or 2228.

So I don't know exactly what that is, but it's over 75% completion percentage and a nice one over the Bears. Oh, proper reaction or overreaction. Mike White should be the quarterback for the Jets for the rest of the season. Proper reaction. Next question. That's easy.

You know what? I don't even know if Zach Wilson, barring injury, starts another game for the Jets. After this year, if Mike White plays well enough where they don't even go back to Zach Wilson in the final few weeks of the season here, maybe you can make a case for Mike White being the starter next year, which I'm not ready to say. But if Mike White plays fine enough where you don't give the job back to Zach Wilson, don't you just then have the answer internally where, yeah, he's been fine. There's some weeks where he plays great like he did last week. Then there's some good weeks, some bad weeks in the final five, six weeks of the season.

Then you just go, okay, we know then the answers. We have to go find someone else outside of the organization. The only way I think Zach Wilson is starting a game again for the Jets is two things. One, there's an injury in the final few weeks of the season. Or two, Joe Douglas just gets stubborn and realizes we invested a second draft pick and overall pick of this guy that we got to give him another chance. I don't think there's going to be a big belief in Zach Wilson ever again for the Jets. I would agree. Maybe I'm listening and taking Robert Sala too literal on his words today when he says that, you know, it's a week by week thing. I would tend to agree, though, that unless Mike White gets hurt or just has just.

I'd have to be. Three bad games, I'm trying to think, two or three bad games in a row, two bad games back to back, like really bad. Then Zach Wilson would start another game, but there's not many weeks left in the season.

It's week 13. It's true. No, you're not wrong. You're not wrong.

Absolutely. Let's talk about or continue with quarterbacks. Kenny Pickett had the best game of his career against the Colts on Monday and last night. One career that Kenny Pickett's had. You sound like Jess Mendoza when Rafael Devers hit like a home run in his sixth career game.

I remember watching when she was on Sunday Night Baseball and she was like, that's the biggest home run he's ever hit. I think it was Gus Johnson. This is JJ McCarthy's biggest game of his career on Saturday.

Well, thanks, Gus. It's like a sixth career start, but that's mattered this year. But off that note, Kenny Pickett right now, overreaction of proper reaction is your leader for Rookie of the Year or offensive Rookie of the Year. Overreaction. Kenneth Walker right now. All right, let's go back to Thursday night potentially to making a deep push, but he's also dependent on some bad quarterbacks.

Not good for Chris, that's for sure. Thursday night, your team, Mac Jones and the Patriots, put up a good fight against the Vikings and scored 26 points. Overreaction or proper reaction? This Vikings defense is a major Achilles' heel.

Yeah, I think that's a proper reaction. It's a flaw. Zadari Smith's really good. Patrick Peterson is good. I think that the game on Thursday is two things. One, for the first time this year, Matt Patricia finally said, oh, we're going to trust the quarterback.

Crazy what happens when you do that. And the other thing, that defense, we may have overrated them. We never thought they were great. We never thought they were really good, but we thought they were really serviceable. Maybe they could be like the Chiefs when they win the Super Bowl and make the timely stops. But that was concerning what you saw on Thursday night. Because the Patriots, who's Mac Jones throwing to? And he was still carving up that defense. And the referees took a touchdown off the board.

You know, New York did too, with that Hunter Henry play. Joke. That is absolutely very true. The team with the best record since week 6 at 6-1 is none other than the Washington Commanders. We are commanders.

Left hand up. We are commanders. Overreaction or proper reaction, the commanders will make the playoffs.

Proper reaction. The next three weeks are massive for the commanders because you play the Giants by week and then the Giants. I think the Giants are starting to fade a little bit. This is the first time all year, once we start to have realistic conversations with the Giants. Where I've started to say, giants are fading. I think the Seahawks, because of their schedule, we discussed this yesterday, will find enough to get in. And I'm now leaning into the commanders because they, even though Heinecke is not great, they believe in him. And that goes a long way and they have talent on that team.

So yeah, I think they'll get in. Bengals, solid win over the Titans on the road on Sunday. Ravens, brutal loss to the Jaguars when they lost on a 2-point conversion. Blue, another 9-2 touchdown. Is this a Tennessee question?

No, it's not actually. Okay, because I actually just got a message from this guy, Anthony Johnson, who direct messages me all the time. And loves, loves dancing on your grave because he hates the Colts and he's a Titans fan. And he goes, let's avoid the Tennessee Titans in over, he goes, over-under reaction tonight, please. Yeah, because they lost. All of a sudden now he doesn't want to come face the music when his team loses.

He has no problem showing up when they win, but now all of a sudden they lost, he wants to go into hiding. Okay, Anthony, we'll grant your wish, we will not talk about the Titans. This is an AFC North question with the Bengals winning, Ravens losing. Overreaction or proper reaction, the AFC North right now, is the Bengals to lose?

I'm going overreaction. It's too close to call. Ravens did beat the Bengals. The Bengals look like they are the better team.

The line played well last week, but I got to see more of that offensive line before I'm ready to go one over the other right now. This Rams season has been, well, let's just say, very ugly. Now you have Aaron Donald getting hurt and maybe missing the rest of the year.

They just shut down Alan Robinson. You could add the worst Super Bowl pick of all time. Stafford. Rams Broncos was your prediction before the year. Yes, not good. Stafford's out, Cubs out.

Basically anyone that is good is not on the field right now for Alan. Don't get me wrong, mine was Ravens and Packers. That's not great, but you would think the Ravens are going to make the playoffs at least. Both of your teams are not even going to come close to sniffing the playoffs. Well, we'll see. Anyway, Sherman Vay got hit in the jaw. Oh, and more about the Ravens. Oh, okay. I thought you were holding out hope still for the Broncos and the Rams. I'm like, wow, delusional.

No. Most of all, we'll see if your two teams, because we know one is definitely cooked. We'll see if the other one is also going to be cooked or if they kind of sneak their way. Anyway, the point is, overreaction or proper reaction, Sean McVay will retire after the season.

Overreaction. I think he'll be back next year. I know he just had the contract extension. TV will come calling clearly.

I don't think you'll walk out like this and then you'd be waiting a few years. Or you could get a job next year if you wanted one, but you would think he would then take a few years off and go into TV or at least a year off. I think he's going to, if Stafford's there, he's going to, he will feel like he owes it to Stafford. If Stafford somehow retires because of the concussions, I think he would be motivated to find the next quarterback.

And finally, to wrap up here, water's wet. Pope is Catholic and Russell Wilson playing bad yet again this season. Another awful game for him against the Panthers to score 10 points. He had Mike Purcell yelling in his face, let's go, let's go.

It doesn't work out. Overreaction or proper reaction. Russell Wilson is truly cooked. It's over. No matter who comes in, he is never going to be an elite quarterback ever again.

I think it's a proper reaction. If you tell me Russell Wilson could be good again, okay. But you said elite. So that's a top five quarterback in football.

I don't see it. And that locker room has lost all confidence in him. Another thing against Mike Purcell, he's yelling, yelling at Russell Wilson. We said this yesterday, I'll say it again, that guy played in the AAF. Who would have ever thought that would be the case before the start of the season?

You know one man I know that didn't think that'd be the case before the start of the season, Marco Belletti? That was Ryan because that was his MVP, his Super Bowl MVP, his Super Bowl champion and the great coach Nathaniel Hackett was going to be top three coach of the year. Wasn't he the best coach in football? Yeah, better than Belichick. No, no, I didn't say he was going to be better than Belichick. All I said was he'd be a top three coach of the year candidate.

That's all I was talking about. I didn't say he's a better coach than Bill Belichick. I said he's a top three coach of the year candidate. Go back and listen to the tape. I never said that, okay? Whatever, we're splitting hairs.

Either way, you were big on Hackett. I'm not saying he's a better coach than Bill Belichick. All I said was for this year he's a top three coach of the year candidate. That's what I said.

And it's wrong, but I'll stand by. I want to make sure at least the record is right. I don't know if all that is exactly how it went down. I remember you said who would be the best coach in football and you said if he's going to win coach of the year, he has to be the best coach in football. I remember that.

That I do not recall. I said if they're going to win the Super Bowl, he's absolutely going to be in the coach of the year conversation without a doubt. And then I asked you who will finish better in the coach of the year conversation. Belichick and Nathaniel Hackett.

You were like, oh, easily Nathaniel Hackett. Yeah, that's a one-year award. Just for this year, right? The coach of the year is one year, that's all. The list, to be fair, if we remember this, it was like an all-pro list and I was saying how was Belichick not in the top three conversation and you were like, oh, he won't be and it will be Nathaniel Hackett by the end of the year. Because if you go back to that list, that list is not specific of whether it's just this season or overall. They said one sentence was overall, the other sentence was just for this season going in, this is our picks. I will never forget.

You reach out to Jeff Curtin, you ask them, we have no idea what the clarity is, please explain to us. CBS Sports Radio is coming up with a 10-year anniversary at the start of the year. Marco, you've been here for all 10 years, right? Has there been a worse prediction than Ryan's Super Bowl? Recent memory? I can't think of anything. In 10 years, do I think somebody? Yeah, probably.

Top three coach of the year? I don't know. The Broncos just got flexed out of a prime time game because the whole nation doesn't want to see them. They're going up against the Chiefs.

Yeah, it's always hard to flex out when you've got Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Well, you know what? I'll say it this way.

Hickey has a top three take, worst take of all time in CBS Sports Radio with the Broncos. That might be fair. That might be fair.

You should be proud of yourself. You know, I know Long Island, they did a whole big write up on Hickey. Oh, yeah?

Oh, yeah. There's some Long Island paper or something like that. What was the paper? There's a lot of my high school, like a big publication email, you know, listserv of updates for alums.

It got sent to me. Yeah. Not a few weeks ago.

Hosting shows on CBS Sports Radio, producer of the Zach Gelb show, filling in on WFAN, big write up, big family photo of hot take Hickey. There's two paragraphs, I'm pretty sure. No, it was a big write up. It was not a big write up.

It's the most extensive write up you've ever got. Well, that's also the one and only. But you're right about that. And now Long Island, when he goes back, they're going to be like, oh, that was the guy that predicted the Broncos are going to be the greatest team of all time. That wasn't in the article, right?

Should be. Thankfully, that was, you know, written maybe early in the season before it blew up in my face. Good. Yeah, you won't leave that out.

I don't know if you could show face now. Leave that out. You get some right, you get some wrong. Like when you pass away in 80 years on your tombstone, it's going to say, here lies the guy with the top three worst prediction of all time at CBS Sports.

If I live to one hundred and eight years old, they care about whatever they want. I'll take it. I gave you 80 years. But I'll take it.

It gives you enough time to have one of my teams win a championship. Bad picks, but you got like decent genes. It seems like you're in good shape. You know, there's a lot of people that walk around there and I think they're going to drop dead and you're not one of them. Yeah. Marco, you'll live forever.

Be lucky if I get through the update. Hickey, earlier in the year, I know we're on in Boise. If I would have told you when Boise was two and two, remember, they had to fire their offensive coordinator that Andy Avalos would get one hundred thousand dollars in incentives in his contract.

Would you ever believe that? And Boise State would be playing for a conference championship? No, sir.

Right. I know the young quarterback has been great, but I'm seeing from Mike Prater, who does a great job on our Boise affiliate. I love Mike.

I go on with those guys a bunch. So Andy Avalos got ten thousand dollars for a six Mountain West win. Then another ten for a seven. Fifteen for his eighth. Fifteen thousand for being bowl eligible. Twenty five thousand for a division title and twenty five thousand for coach of the year. And if he wins the conference on Saturday, that's an extra fifty thousand dollars.

He can get one hundred fifty thousand dollars in incentives. Heck of a job. Heck of a job, Andy Avalos.

Give him a stock up. Kenny Pickett. Thank you, Kenny. Hickey, I don't like you. Hickey, not going to be good. Hickey, his hands are too small. Hickey, the Colts are going to win by ten plus points that are going to embarrass the Steelers. Nice job by Kenny. Job well done.

Give him a stock up. USA Soccer. Hickey, give us our USA Soccer report, Mr. USA Soccer. All I see you tweeting about is USA Soccer now.

You're an expert. Just like I said, Kristin Pulisic would be the American hero today. Scores one goal.

They win one nothing over Iran. Round to sixteen, baby. Here we come.

Let's give it a stock up. USA! USA!

USA! The Defense of Player of the Week is sponsored by the Navy Federal Credit Union who proudly serves the armed forces, DOD veterans and their families. Their members of the mission. Learn more at navyfederal.org. Commander's Corner, Kendall Fuller. Helped secure the third win in a row for Washington commanders as he intercepted Marcus Mariota. Nice deflection by Deron Payne as the commanders two yard line with just one oh three left in the game. Fuller finished the game with two tackles and two pass breakups as the commanders left hand up, took down the Falcons nineteen to thirteen.

Stock up to Kendall Fuller. Joelle, the process, Embiid. In his return last night, Sixers get the win one oh four to one oh one. The process, Joelle Embiid, thirty points, eight rebounds, seven assists.

Give him a stock up. Got to give a shout out to these three players in the association last night. Kevin Durant, forty five points, seven rebounds. Nets beat the Magic.

Also got to give a shout out to Devin Booker. One twenty two to one seventeen win over the Kings. He had forty four points, eight rebounds and six steals. And then for the Wizards, Kristaps Porzingis. Forty one points in three blocks. Wizards blow out the Timberwolves one forty two to one twenty seven. And that's a career high for Kristaps Porzingis and points.

All three of those gentlemen eclipsing the forty point mark. Give them a stock up. Celtics crushed Charlotte last night, one forty one oh five. They're seventeen and four on the year.

They've won thirteen out of the last fourteen. Give the Celtics a stock up. Jeff Saturday, learn how to call a time out, dude. Matt Ryan, learn how to save your coach.

Call a time out as well. Give a stock down to Hickey's favorite coach, Jeff Saturday. Well, you don't love Jeff Saturday? Great player for you guys. He's helping the draft pick, that's for sure.

Good job, Jeff. Should have lost to the Raiders. Really helping the draft pick. And you don't want any of these quarterbacks other than Bryce Young, according to you. Or Trey Lance.

If you have a top pick, all of a sudden you dangle out in front of the 49ers. See how much I love Jimmy G. Trey Lance never plays a game for the Colts. Terrace ACL first game. Do we have to go that drastic measure?

You said he never plays a game, so I'll paint the picture for everyone. That's a look. Yeah, the offensive line's just bad and a little elbow soreness or something like that. Or Trey Lance just retires in a preseason game.

That could happen. And finally, Clemson football. I know they could win an ACC championship this past weekend, but their college football playoff hopes, just all the air let out of the balloon after they did lose this past weekend to South Carolina after having multiple leads. So give a stock down to Clemson football.

And that's all the time we have today on the Zach Gelb show. Final poll question results. Georgia or the field to win it all. Georgia or the field. Georgia 52.8%.

The field's 47.2%. Cole Kublick, who joined us earlier. Thank you to him. He went with the field and also like to thank from the Michigan football team, joining us Colston Loveland, who was very fun to talk to as Michigan is now three wins away. Three wins away from winning it all.

All right. That's all the time we have today on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Loaded show tomorrow. Shane Beamer going to join us. Matt Ruhl going to join us. Willie Gay is going to join us. And Shane Beamer. It's going to be a fun one. Steve Mario cheat, too.

Like I said, Beamer twice. Anyway, that's all the time we got today. Be back tomorrow.

6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. We out. Bye bye. Peace. Is there something really absurd that skeeves 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 podcasts from.