Hello, Welcome to this Week in the Atlantic Coast Conference podcast for All Sportsdiscussion
dot Com. This is Jeff and you can follow me on Twitter at Talkin'
acc Sports. That's t A l k I n ACC Sports. Your podcast
moderator is Matthew and you can follow Matthew on Twitter at ASD Underscore, Hoky
Smash. I'm gonna turn it over to Matthew now as we get started in
a classic setup podcast, absolutely classic. For episode four hundred and seventy five,
A major milestone, Jeff, A major milestone. And did you think
we'd be going this long? No, I can't say that I have.
But it's been a lot of fun all the way through, and I hope
we've got a bunch more to go. It's fun talking ACC sports with you,
Matthew. Five. We're gonna hit five hundred sometime later in twenty twenty
four, and that'll be the that'll be the big party zone. As Jeff
said, this is the podcast for Allsports Discussion dot Com. You can follow
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l k I n A C C S p O R T S. You
can follow me Matthew on Twitter at at at I'll start over here at as
T underscore Hoky Smash. Jeff said that already already, but we figured you
can repeat it and you can always go to it. I spent a little
more time at the at the site Twitter account. Excuse me, just get
our presence up a little bit more there. So, Jeff, this is
a classic version of the ACC podcast. So we're gonna go back to our
roots here. I'm gonna get some water in a moment because I'm kind of
coughing. Uh, tell us about yourself. Yeah, yeah, my name
is Jeff Finn. I'm a engineer by by day. I graduated from from
Georgia Tech, went to grad school at Clemson. So a lot of ACC
ties here started this, this, this blog and then the podcast with with
Matthew because I didn't think that the ACC had a lot of voices out there
that just covered the con the conference exclusively. I thought what was covered about
the conference was overly negative, and so you know, we wanted to bring
some some balance to that and and bring you know, some of the good
things about what's going on in the a C see and you know, cover
cover to schools that that we follow closely, uh in the conference. So
that's kind of how the blogs started up. It's been it's been a lot
of fun and always have opinions out there on Twitter and putting out articles at
all Sportsdiscussion dot com and podcast and every week. Definitely, definitely, and
I think that we we give a different take than others because there's a lot
of team oriented blogs that are just one team only and this is one that
kind of covers every team of the conference. And we're all so we also,
as Jeff said, have our own our own teams. I'm an alumnus
of Virginia Tech, and you know, I'm you know, we are not
homers for our own schools. We can be very critical of our own schools.
We both have been very critical on this podcast and on the blog of
our schools, and anybody who follows us on Twitter or who reads our blogs
can can certainly confirm that we're not or not homers in any respect. We
certainly tell the truth about We certainly tell the truth about that. So Jeff,
let's get right into it, man, Let's get right into it.
Which acc football team was the most disappointing team in Week nine, And we're
going to liner on in the moment. I want to get your take,
your first take on this on the first first half of this question, and
we'll go to the second question. Yeah, I think if you're looking for
a disappointing team, I'm gonna I'm gonna start with with Clemson. You know,
on the road at at NC State, you know, tough, tough
environment to play in, no question, but that was an NC State team
that that's got a lot of issues offensively, and you know, it was
just more of the same from what we've seen from Clemson most of this year.
You know, decent defensive effort, but so mistake prone on off and
it's just a multitude of issues with the Clemson offense. It's it runs way
deeper than some of the inexperience from from CADE club. Nick at quarterback,
who doesn't seem to be progressing, but the issues run much deeper than him.
There there are no playmakers on the offense, no receivers step up.
They can't stretch the field. And when you're playing a quality defense like NC
State and you can't stretch the field, and you can't put any pressure on
that defense, you're you're in big trouble. And you know in this game
they got down twenty four to seven. Offense looked looked completely inept, a
little late rally to make the court score a little bit closer than what it
was. But for Clemson team that's just trying to turn the season around,
it was a pretty listless performance in my opinion at NC State, and and
you know that's who they are. They're four and four, two and four
team right now, and they're simply just not very good. I'm very disappointed
by the effort out of Clemson this week. Can we I'm going to add
on a I guess they would say a runner up now, not to say
that I'm not. I'm happy for the happy as hell for you, Jeff,
that that Georgia Tech beat North Carolina. You know I was rooting for
you every step of the way there. I wanted that to happen for Georgia
Tech. But North Carolina is at the point where they're in what is it?
Is it? Jeff? Correct me if I'm wrong. Is this the
sixth season for Mac Brown? Is that right? I think this is season
number six, and I'm glad you pointed them out, Matthew, I know
you're going to get into it, but oh, did North Carolina's defense did
they lay down? Oh? It was bad. I was ready to rip
them. Go ahead, I'm sorry, go ahead. I mean I was
going to get into tomorrow when I you know, with North Carolina, when
we get into the surprising teams of the weekend. But I mean that was
I almost watched that game in disbelief that. I mean, they absolutely got
trucked in the fourth quarter of the game. Georgia Tech ran for two hundred
and forty five, two hundred and forty six yards in the fourth quarter.
I mean, on a night that Georgia Tech honored Paul Johnson, he must
have been you know, I think there were a couple of throwback performances this
weekend in the ACC and I know one of them was from Virginia Tech.
But that was a throwback fourth quarter for Georgia Tech. I mean, they
just took North Carolina soul in that fourth quarter and ran them over. And
man, if you're North Carolina, if you're a fan, you gotta be
wondering what happened to your defense, because they just they looked exhausted confused,
and I'm not sure a T has played a worst quarter of defense this entire
season in the ACC than, you know, than what North Carolina did in
the fourth quarter. That was atrocious. I have nothing more to add there.
I'm going to answer our next question first, and I'll just be real
quick with quick with it, and you can take the ladder, because here's
the thing. I know, Virginia Tech played well. I missed the entire
first half of that game. I was really impressed with Louisville's performance versus Duke
this week, Jeff. I mean, they were ball hoking on defense.
They did not force things on offense. They showed that they could play a
I guess you could say, I want to say, a ball control sort
of offense. They showed that they could run the ball if they had to.
They gave they weren't over aggressive, they didn't do dumb things on fourth
down and try to be over aggressive. They just took what the Duke defense
gave them, and they grinded out a win against the very well coached Duke
team. And I believe this is the first ever ranked opponent that Louisville has
shut out at home. And that's I think I read something about that the
first top top twenty five team, and it was a very impressive performance from
Louisville, and they've got to be sitting. They got to be sitting in
a spot where they're probably if I'm betting on my on teams to get to
the ACC championship game against Florida State, Louisville is probably my top choice right
now because they're playing some some really good there's some really good football. But
I know you've got another team that you want to talk about. Yeah,
I mean Louisville at home is I mean, they're they're good anywhere, but
at home they're just a different team. And you know, we know what
they did against Notre Dame, breaking breaking that ACC thirty game regular season losing
streak to the Irish and Irish they have a really good football team. We
know what Louisville did there, and another impressive performance against a quality duke team,
and like you said, Matthew just went in different ways. I don't
think anyone in the ACC outside of Florida States has consistently played at a high
level like like Louisville has. And and you know that there you have to
admit that's that's a good, good football team, especially in Cardinals Stadium.
You know, they had the kind of fluky loss to to Pittsburgh where I
think Louisville kind of went into that game spent from the emotion of the Notre
Dame game, you know, and and there's still a growing football team,
but really impressive game against against Duke. And and you know that doesn't happen
often to the Duke Blue Devils under under Mike Elko, to where you never
even felt like Duke had a chance in that game. That's how well Louisville
played, you know, another team, two other teams, and that I'll
let you you know, take over for Virginia Tech. But I'll just say
a brief sentence about that. I mean Friday night that that was a vintage
or Thursday Night that was a vintage Virginia Tech Thursday night, mid two thousand
performance. I mean their defense, aggressive, explosive plays on offense, and
uh, I mean just a great performance in Brenton, Prbably has has Virginia
Tech really playing some good football. I know you'll get into that one,
you know, and then the last impressive team from the weekend, you know,
got to give it up. For for you know, my guys there
at Georgia Tech. You know, who can figure figure them out at this
point? You know, twenty point underdog Miami, they found a to win
twenty point favorite against Bowling Green. They lose, They lose at home,
you know, in ugly fashion to Boston College, and then come back,
you know with their best performance of the season, you know, knocking off
North Carolina. I mean, who had tons to play for. They were
coming off a loss against Virginia and you know, right out of the gate,
they're up fourteen to zero in four different times during the game. North
Carolina had a double digit lead in that game, and they just couldn't put
Georgia Tech away. A great performance from Georgia Tech running back Dante Smith Haines
King, who's had a really fine season at quarterback for Georgia Tech defense that
you know, it's been pretty maligned. It's not a great defense. No
one's going to confuse that still managed to hold North Carolina to fourteen points in
the second half, you know, and made a couple of opportunistic plays against
that great North Carolina offense. And you know, Georgia Tech now is four
to oho under Brent key against ranked teams in the ACC, which is pretty
astonishing, you know, given what he took over by no means are they
a finished product. I mean, they've got to find a way to be
a more consistent team and to you know, play up that level more often.
And you know, when we get into the ACC schedule for next week,
we're going to see what they can do against Virginia on the road.
But I mean, really impressive performance. Their offensive line probably played their best
game since Paul Johnson was there. Just ran over North Carolina's defense. Jeff,
I'll let you get into Virginia Tech because that was impressive. Thursday.
I have a couple questions for you, Jeff. How many yards rushing do
you think Syracuse had against Virginia Tech. It was two hundred and forty six
yards fewer than Georgia Tech had in the fourth quarter against North Carolina, which
would be zero. How many sacks did Virginia Tech had against Syracuse? Jeff,
trying to remember it was either seven or nine. They had eight sacks
eight, okay, at seven the game before. They've had fifteen sacks in
two games in Virginia Tech is probably in the top five in the country.
In quarterback sacks. I haven't seen that in several years as an aggressive ball
hockeying defense, and they seem to be. They seem to be turning it
on at the right time. I mean, they're just there. They've been.
Here's another question I have for you, Jeff, what do you think
Virginia Tech would have one or two more wins if Kyron Drones was starting the
very first game aim of this season. Jeff, I'm actually dead serious about
that. Yeah. I mean, he gives them an element that that Wells
just couldn't give them with his feet. I mean, he can make he
can make plays that you know that Virginia Tech just couldn't get those kind of
plays earlier in the season. And you can see the team feeds off of
his ability to make plays. And he's a great he you know, he's
kind of reminds you a little bit of of Tyrod Taylor. You know,
they're Virginia Tech. I mean, he's got a lot to get up to
that level, but I mean he kind of reminds you, he reminds me
anyways of Taylor. And you know that you got Virginia Tech. It's just
they're playing with a lot of confidence, Like you said, the defense,
you know, with a real throwback performance against against Syracuse and uh, you
know, unbelievably, Virginia Tech hold holds the the holds their deathity in their
own hands to get to the ACC title game. It's kind of crazy.
But so I have muted expectations on that part, and Jeff only because Virginia
Tech's pretty much done all that at home. They got to go on the
road to Louisville next week. I know we're going to talk about that,
but that's you know, I you know, it's interesting. I didn't think
we'd be in a spot where, you know, Virginia Tech could potentially be
favored in three of its four final games. But I think that that's where
Virginia Tech is at because Virginia Tech is probably going to be favored at home
against NC State, who has the and this time I think, you know,
Virginia Tech actually almost beat NC State last year and had no playmakers on
offense, not and they actually they should be favored in three of its four
final games. I would think that Virginia Tech will be favored against BC.
I think Virginia Tech will be favored against u v A. I think Virginia
Tech will be favored against INCA NC State. The only game that Virginia Tech
won't be favored at is is that Louisville. Would you agree with that?
Yeah, I mean, I think the only one that that Virginia Tech will
go into as probably being a prohibitive underdog is against is against Louisville. And
we talked about how good Louisville is has been at home, and that's going
to be a real tall task for Virginia Tech to go in there and come
out with a win. But I mean, all three of the other games
are definitely winnable, and is the Boston the Boston the other all three of
the other ones are in Lane Stadium. No, they've got to go to
Boston College. But I still think that I still think that Virginia Tech will
actually be favored going up there because and so here's why I say that Boston
College gives up about as many sacks as as Wake Forest or as Syracuse and
Virginia you know, they they're they're gonna be they're gonna be going after that
quarterback. They're gonna be going after that quarterback, you know. And so
I I feel I would feel that Virginia Tech probably will be favored going up
there because they just have a they have a better I think they have a
better I think I have a better defense. I think they certainly they have
a better defense than Boston College. You know, So it'll be an interesting
it'll be interesting, but I think they'll be fair. I think that they'll
be favored in three of the four and if they were to come you know,
if they were to come out and finish seven and five, they might
be considered one of your ACC teams in the second half of the season that
you know performed Well, yeah, yeah, that's that's true. And I
mean who at this point in the season would have had your ACC standings with
With Virginia Tech in third place, in Georgia Tech in fourth place at the
moment, it's pretty crazy at and it is pretty crazy. So Jeff,
let's get to week ten, man a week ten ACC football, Which which
game you're looking forward to? Which game Gamber games are you looking forward?
Well, I'm pulling up this the schedule here that there are a couple of
it. There's there's a number of intriguing games here. I mean, you've
got you got games that I think are just going to be absolute blowouts with
North Carolina playing Campbell, Florida State going to to Pittsburgh. Uh. But
you look at you know, what should have been one of the tops games
of the entire season. You're just wondering if Clemson has anything they can do
to stay in it with with Notre Dame. I think this is a really
bad matchup of a game for for Clemson. You know, they're going up
against a Notre Dame defense that that shut down Ohio State and and their roster
of all American UH wide receivers. But still the games in Death Valley,
and you're wondering if if Clemson, you know, for the first time the
season, can can knock off Equality, uh, you know, knock off
a quality opponent. A couple of other games, I think Georgia Tech Virginia
is a down the under the radar game. You know, both of those
teams you know have been you know, have pulled off upsets of North Carolina
in recent weeks. Virginia came within an eyelash of going down to Miami and
winning. They've been kind of a hard luck team, but I think they're
improved. Georgia Tech, you know, absolute roller coaster. You know,
let's see if they can follow up their North Carolina win and go on the
road. They they've got to find a way to to to win two more
games for them to get Bowl eligible. I think Miami and NC State is
a really intriguing game. I think Miami has put the Georgia Tech kind of
debacle loss behind them, you know, and then you know, they also
lost to North Carolina the week after. But now they've they've won a couple
of games in a row, going to overtime late in games, and and
I still think they've they've got a ceiling that they haven't returned to since that
they played it early in the season. And you know, with the issues
North Carolina has offensively, you don't know if Peyton Wilson, they're they're all
American linebackers, is going to be available. But you know, going to
Carter Finley is a difficult place to play. It's gonna be at night.
Uh. That's that's an intriguing game for for some of the for Bowl positioning
there and to see, you know, which one of those two, you
know, does Zenz State find an offense to go along with their defense?
Can can Miami put their third win in a row together. I think that's
a really intriguing, uh, Saturday night game. I will be interested to
see if Syracuse keeps dropping off the map. Jeff, Jeff, that's what
I want to see. Because Boston College is coming to the j m A
wireless doing and wireless wireless doing and Dolman. I think that it'll be interesting
to see whether whether whether you know, because if they lose that game,
you're gonna see a lot in the Syracuse fan gate based starting getting getting getting
pretty restless. And they used to be those guys need those two teams used
to be really big rivals in the Big East, And if they lose to
Boston College, you're gonna see you're gonna see some people who get really really
restless. Yeah, and Syracuse, you know, they they're really struggling right
now. They've been blown out now four straight games. They're the only winless
team in the a c C. They're they're struggling moving the ball, they're
struggling on defensively. I think they're gonna have They're gonna have to beat Boston
College if they want to save Beno Baber's job. Uh. You know,
this is a team that started started the year four and oh and and now
it's four and four and they're they're they're looking at another second half collapse similar
to the last season. I know, North Carolina gets the most publicity,
you know, for collapsing in the second half of the season because they get
they they've gotten so high up in the rankings last year nine and one lose
their final four games this year, six and oh, losing two in a
row. But you know, Syracuse is definitely on that same you know,
same things kind of happen into them too, with the fast starts and then
just just struggle, you know, getting to the finish line. And yeah,
that's a huge game for Syracuse. Jeff. Next week man Week ten
National college football. I mean, we've got so many good games on this
schedule, which is what are some of the games you're looking forward to next
week? Next week in week ten, because there are a lot of real
this is a stellar week next weekend, Jeff for college football. What are
you looking forward to? Yeah, I think I think two of the games
that that are really going to be interesting with national playoff implications is Washington going
to USC. I know, you love love the Huskies, but they have
gotten by on They have not played well since beating Oregon. They they they
were on the ropes this this past weekend. It just escaped me just for
a second. Who they were playing. Oh yeah again, I knew it
was like Stanford. Yeah, and then also against Arizona State and and in
both of those games, I mean, it went deep into the fourth quarter
with the game still in doubt. And I think you talked about it on
Twitter. You know, with their inability to run the football, it's putting
a lot of pressure on Pennis to quarterback too, you know, to keep
Washington above water. USC oh, oh my goodness, one of the worst
defenses in college football. This this could be. I mean, this could
be an absolute shootout. That's what USC is hoping for because they're not going
to stop They're not going to slow down Pennis at all in this game.
And the scorge of boards is just going to be, you know, lit
up in this game left and right. But USC came within a two point
conversion of losing to Cal this weekend. That that's that's that's a team with
absolutely no defense. But you know, they got Caleb Williams at quarterback.
Great quarterback matchup. There, and uh, I think Washington is going to
have to run the table, you know, to get into the the playoff.
I don't think they can afford to lose a game, so that that's
that's a big game on Saturday night. And then you got l s U
and Alabama. You know, talk about you know, Alabama slipping back a
bit. They beat they beat LSU, They're gonna end up in the SEC
title game most likely. And you know that puts them within one game of
making it back to the playoff, even though it seemed like they had slipped
over overall savings got them kind of squared away. And and LSU is another
team you know with their quarterback Jayden uh Daniels that you know tends to struggle
on defense as well, but you know with a guy like him at quarterback,
that that should be a great matchup Saturday night as well. I'll give
you one. I'll give you too, Jeff. How about I give you
two. Kansas State is gonna I think they have a good chance to beat
I'd like it better if the game was at Kansas State. I think I
think if you're playing ball control sorts of stuff like they'd like to play.
I think they have a good chance to go in there and win. I'm
not calling it yet, but I think that I would not surprise me to
see them win next week. The other one is under the radar, and
I think you may enjoy this. You're in state rival South Carolina. Yeah,
they're losing to Jacksonville State this week, Jeff, I hope. I'm
picking Jacksonville State to beat South Carolina this week and for the game Cocks to
go to and seven. They're not going to a ball this year. There
you go, Jeff, that would be a stunner and that would put Shane
Biemer on the mega hot seat if he lost to Jacksonville State. Well,
you know what, Rich Rodriguez is a better coach Thance Bieber. He is,
and he's going to win this week. They are a better team.
They got South Carolina. It's a fourteen point yep, because I'm fourteen point
favorite and picking I'm picking Jacksonville State the way. Hey, we remember when
Jacksonville State went down into Dope Campbell and knocked off the Seminoles. So they're
not afraid of big, big game environments. You know, they've bade it
to the FCS playoffs. Several times. They've They've lost at Indyshus several times,
of course. But you know, I'm not sure that I don't I
see, I'm not I think, I think, I think uh. I
don't think Shane Bieber is going to be in South Carolina Carolina very long,
Jeff. I don't think you have to worry about losing the South Carolina this
year, Jeff. As bad as as bad as things are going for Clemson,
it's going much worse in South Carolina. Yeah. I don't know if
if clemes into any position to any overlook anyone on their schedule the rest of
the way. I'm with you, I'm with you. But you know,
after they lose to jack State this week, the bottom is going to be
dropping out there. Yeah, that that would that would drop the bottom out.
There's no question about that. If that happened, we'll see if I'm
right, We'll see if I eat my words. But I I will take
I will take a Rich Rodriguez coaching matchup against South Carolina any day of the
week. Again, especially against Shane Bieber. I think I think that they're
I think there, I think that's gonna be I think that's going to be
an intrigue. That's gonna be an intriguing game. So let's me let me
see. I want to I want to see if there's one other one,
one other one that I that cut my eye would potentially be Missouri against Georgia.
I mean, I know Georgia is a heavy favorite there. I'm wondering
how long Missouri can hang in there. What do you think about that,
Jeff, Yeah, I mean it kind of looks like, you know,
Georgia is starting to hit on all cylinders again. This seems to be about
the time of the season where they start gearing up for their playoff run.
And and and I mean, I think Missouri can go in there knowing that,
you know, they competed really well with Georgia last year and had an
even chance to knock them off. But even without brought Bowers available for Georgia,
I think he's he's still going to be out. Uh. This just
feels like Georgie is just two loaded for Missouri and Georgia's you know, they're
they're they're getting that point in the season where they're i mean, their schedule
has been you know, uh, pretty pretty below average. We'll say,
you know, to be honest, it's it's been it's been a totally dreadful
schedule. They but you know, and Missouri is probably one of the better
teams that they're going to face on their schedule, and they are a good
team. They might be the second best team in the SEC SEC East.
But I just don't think they're I don't think they're equipped to go into Athens
and not them off. That would, I would add, be a stunner.
Fair enough, fair enough, So I actually think Washington will beat you
as siege, Jeff. But I think Washington is either going to lose to
Utah at home or they're going to lose it to Oregon State on the road.
And your your buddy, DJ, he's playing pretty well for the most
part in Oregon State. He's playing pretty well. He looks like a different
quarterback. Yeah, it definitely helps to have, like some some receivers that
can get open Oregon Oregon State, did you know they take it on the
chin this this weekend against Arizona. But you're you're right. I think that's
gonna be a really tricky game, uh, for Washington to go into the
Corballas and and win that game. And Kyle, you know, Kyler Willingham's
a pretty good coach at Utah and he's a good he's a good game preparer,
you know, so him, you know, he'll he'll be ready when
he takes his guys to Seattle too. So both of those are going to
be tough matchups. If they could make it through USC Utah and Oregon State,
and I don't think they will. Uh, they'll win the Apple Cup.
They'll they'll destroy Washington State because you always get up for your rival and
that's at home. But I don't know about the I don't I don't know
if they can make it through. I don't know if they could make it
through. I had concerns about them about being so one dimensional on offense,
and I was telling Matt Zemick, I was like, man, at least
do the justin flinty JETSUITEP. You know what I mean? I mean,
because if that simulates at least simulates the running some sort of a short pass
running game and gets your athletes in space. And they weren't even doing that,
you know, And I was like, oh god, you know,
so you know, we'll see how long they can last. But that you
know, the coaches that you know the coach certainly has people excited there in
Seattle again, and it's been a long time since they've, you know,
since they've been really excited about a football team and had a football team to
root for this late in November, so it's you know, football is fun
when what when Georgia went Virginia Tech and Washington and these teams are good,
you know, are good that have been traditionally been traditionally been pretty good.
So, Jeff, if I had to give you your answer, ask you
this question today, give me your answer, Jeff, who plays in the
ACC Championship football game? To day, Well, it seems almost impossible not
to think that Florida State's going to be in that game. Jordan Travis,
I just don't see him. You know, if you're gonna knock off Jordan
Travis Benson and that group of wide receivers, you're gonna just have to have
a spectacular performance. I mean, they have a few issues defensively, but
even their defense is starting to come around. And you know, I think
we go through a whole ACC podcast, you wouldn't even barely talk about Florida
State because they're just they're kind of on cruise control now. And Jordan Travis
is getting healthy, you know, from the shoulder injury he suffered against Boston
College. He's starting to look like the guy that was in the fourth quarter
of the LSU game. And so it it seems almost impossible that they won't
be there. So you're really looking at who's their opponent gonna be. And
it looked to be, you know, probably realistically a two team race between
North Carolina and Louisville. But you know, North Carolina taking that that really
stunning loss to Georgia Tech has has put has put Louisville in a great position
now to get to that game. I think Louisville, we look at the
end of their schedule. I know, they played Virginia Tech. Uh,
they got to go to Miami. Uh, and it got Kentucky at home.
And I'm trying to remember their fourth game on their schedule. Uh it,
I'm gonna have to pull that up real quick to see who's the fourth
game left on their schedule. And we've already talked about how how dynamite they've
been at home. Uh, gret this appeer of course right when you want
to pull it up, you know, have it in front of it.
They played Virginia, Jeff in Virginia, okay, you know, and you
gotta like Louisville at home against against Virginia. And even if they lose down
at Miami, Miami already has two acc losses, probably will lose in Tallahassee
to Florida State. So I mean Louisville's Louisville isn't really is in really good
shape. They knocked off Duke, who was another one of their close competitors.
I do wonder what if they do end up tied since they don't play
North Carolina, if they both end up with two losses, I'm gonna have
to look up what the tiebreaker is. So you know, North Carolina is
not completely eliminated, but it sure do us feel like Louisville is going to
be Florida State's opponent in the a SEC Championship game. I agree with you.
I agree with you. I will be interested to see how they handle
Prosperity Jeff by Prosperity, you know, I'll be You know, I'm wondering
what Brom's cooking at Brom's cooking up for the aggressive defense that Virginia Tech's gonna
bring in there, you know, what I mean, because it's gonna be
I mean, they're gonna be you know, they're gonna be right. They're
gonna be really aggressive when they come into when they come into Louisville, when
they come into Louisville next week. There's a guy, particularly Jeff that I
want to mention on Virginia Tech's team from these on the defensive line this year
because he's just he's just been terrific. Antoine Powell Ryland, the transfer from
Clemson, the kid from the kid from Portsmouth, Virginia. He's just been
amazing. And he's gonna be on the All a C C team at least
one of the All ACC teams. Do you agree? Yeah, I think
he has a has a great chance to be on one of the All ACC
teams. He's gonna give them a hard time. I think in Louisville he's
gonna give somebody a hard time there. Now, Rom has turned out pretty
good, Jeff, because he had a good offensive line when he walked in
the door. You know he's got you know, he turned out pretty good
there and he and then he brought a couple of good players in the portal.
But he his offensive line was not there when he came in there,
you know, and so that was a good thing for him. And that's
certainly part of their success this year is having an offensive line that that you
know, where they can win in the trenches and stuff like that. But
what the you know, I'm I'm still shocked, and I'm sure you are
too a little bit. I'm still shocked at what they did the Notre Dame,
you know, I mean, yeah, you have to you have to
be I mean, Notre Dame is a is a couple of drop interceptions from
you know, knocking off Ohio State. We saw what they did to USC
and and and Louisville just dominated them in the and from the third late and
the third quarter into the fourth quarter. I mean, they got on a
roll. And like we said earlier, you know, outside of Florida State,
no one has played at the ceiling that Louisville has played, uh this
year, and when they get rolling, they're really good. And they've they've
kind of touched that ceiling a couple of times this season against Notre Dame.
They played very well against Duke, you know, shutting them out. And
like you said earlier, you know, you looked at Louisville earlier in the
year. It's just kind of an explosive team, you know, with with
thrash and plumber and and big plays and fast and I mean they just they
just grounded out against a good Duke defense with with you know, with that
running game and and that was you know, an element with your our Jordan,
you didn't really think that they had. And so you know, Louisville
is fighting in different ways to win. Different speeds on offense, very aggressive
on defense. I mean, Jeff Brom's right up there with with Norville.
It's probably your ACC Coach of the Year candidates right now. I'm with you,
Jeff, I'm with you, Jeff, open mic. What do you
got, Jeff, Well, it's definitely been a fun football season. It's
going to be a great November. You know, the playoff chases, playoff
rankings coming out this month, but this time tomorrow. And we mentioned it
on last year's podcast, our last week's podcast where we were two weeks away.
We're now a week away from basketball season starting, and November December is
my favorite sports time of the year when there's college football and college basketball ball
going. You know, can't wait to see you know how the ACC looks.
Duke should be should be dynamite. A lot of people are expecting North
Carolina to have a rebound. Clemson could could surprise some people in the ACC.
They got to transfer from Syracuse coming down. PJ Hall on that team.
Virginia looks looks a little bit underrated, but you know, you can't
count out Tony Bennett and that team. You know, Virginia Tech's been been
you know strong the last few years. So in Miami, of course,
we can't forget about what they've done. They've been the best March team in
the a c C over the last two years with an Elite eight and a
Final four under Jim layer Inega. So I mean, they're definitely going to
be in the mix again. So I'm expecting the ACC to be better in
the regular season that they have than they have been in recent years. They've
been the best March team with the mar you know, best March record over
the last couple of years. You know, the only major Power five conference
to have a Final four team in the last two years, having three teams.
I mean, I guess you would call Yukon, you know, from
Power five in basketball to Power six coming from where they're at of but you
know, the ACC needs to be better in the regular season and kind of
you know, get back to where we're used to seeing eight or nine bids
in March instead of the you know, scratching to get five. But I
do think the conference will be better this year. It will be interesting for
me to see Matthew Cleveland in a Miami roster, Jeff, because I know
we talked about this over the summer, but I saw it in passing as
I got I didn't see any It's this news that he went in the portal
basically across the river right to Miami, and I'll be interested to see how
he works out. I think he's gonna work out just brilliantly in Miami's offense.
I think he's I think that was arguably one of the best underrated pickups
in the transfer portal and it was within state, right Yeah. I mean,
if there's been anyone that's been able to use a transfer portal in the
ACC in basketball, it's it's Jim Laherne in Miami, and you know that
should allow them to be one of the contenders in the conference. Again,
I'm still I mean, I was still that was so under the radar that
I missed it. And it's just I think he's gonna I think he's just
gonna thrive in that and in that, in that, in that, in
that offense because he's that's up his guard so well. Jim Laarenega does for
you know, for just for for for to get points and things like that.
He depends on them a lot, and I think he's gonna thrive in
Jim Larrenega's often. So I think it's gonna be fun. And this is
actually gonna give us a good chance to plug this this plug our next week.
Next week's podcast, Jeff, we have Tristan Freeman coming on here from
Bruston Brackets next week and he is he's going to preview ACC men's basketball with
us, So that is going to be fun, you know, And so
I always look forward to having him come on the show. This is going
to be his third time on the show with us, and he gets better
every time he comes on here, So I'm looking forward to having him having
him come on the show. Jeff. Yeah, that's gonna be a lot
of fun, and that that'll be what gets me into college basketball, because
you know, I've only kind of been looking at it from afar. I
fairly haven't turned the corner. But we get Tristan on here, I'll be
ready to go definitely. Well, Jeff, that's been great chatting with you
this week on a classic version of the All Sports Discussion ACC podcast, and
we will we will podcast again next week. Have a great week, Jeff,
all right, you two, Matthew. Bye,