H Hello, welcome to this week in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the podcast
for Discussion dot com. This is Jeff and you can follow me on Twitter
at Talking acc spour. Your podcast moderator is Matthew, and you can give
Matthew a follow on Twitter at asd Underscore Hostings Match. I'm gonna turn it
over to you now as he welcomes our guest and Matthew. We're still looking
for Tim to join us here. We we are we are. Would you
mind Jeff just telling uh, maybe mentioned to him that the pot the invite
is still over at probably at his Gmail account, at his Gmail account,
I think it would probably be probably would be helpful here. So yeah,
this is Matthew. As Jeff said, you can follow me on Twitter at
as the Underscore Hoky Smash. Although I really don't spend as much time over
on that account anymore. I spend a lot more time at the site account,
and that's at All Sports dACC. We have a terrific return guest tonight
in Tim Thomas. You can follow Tim on Twitter at at Tim Thomas TLP
at that's at T I M T H O M A S T LP and
he is the owner and operator of tech Lunchpail dot com and that is really
one of the most widely sourced Virginia tech blogs on the internet. He has
just he has grown exponentially every year that he's been at all sports. This
guy, excuse me, at at at at tech lunch Pail, and he's
been on this show many times. I mean, Jeff, I think as
I recall he came out, he came on here as a student when he
was just flipping from the from the fans sided Hoki's blog, and I see
Tim is with us. Now, Tim, can you hear his friend?
Can you turn your volume up just a little bit? Hear me? Not
so much, not so much. That's a little better, Yeah, a
little more. Can you give us a little more better? That's that's even
better. Give us a little more if you can. Okay, that's better.
That's better than it was before. Man, that's better than it was
before. Welcome back, your friend. I just gave you a big,
a big plug here. I mean, you are the owner and operator of
tech lunch pail dot com. It is really one of the most widely read
Virginia tech blogs on the internet. You have grown exponentially every year. You
can follow it. We can, I should say here, you can follow
Tim on Twitter at Tim at Tim Thomas t l P. Again, that's
at t I M T h O M S t l P. The site
twitter account at tech lunchpaial dot com is at tech lunch payld that's at t
E c h l U n C h P A I l D. And
it's just amazing to see their growth and uh, just an explosion of growth
at the site, an explosion of readers. And you know, we had
Tim Thomas on this show when he was a student several years ago, right
after he left the Hokies fan site has fan sited blog and started independently,
and like I said, he's just grown every year. And he's been a
great friend of Old Sports Discussion dot com and we've seen him get analytically sharper
every time that he's been on this show. And with everything that his group
rights, his staple of writers I should say rights at tech lunch bail dot
com. Tim, welcome back. We're really happy to have you come on
the show. Tell our readers about yourself a little bit and anything that you
want to plug because I plugged your you know, some new available features on
your site, but we'd love to have you talk about all of that.
Thank you again for coming on, friend. Yeah, it's great to be
back on. Guys. It's always a pleasure to be on. And I
always remember when we just launched the Tech Lunch Bail. We popped right on
here. You guys have me on for the first time, so you all
been with us and supporting us for a long long time, so it's greatly
appreciated. But yeah, I'm a you know, twenty eight Aluma, Virginia
tech full time engineer, working to build us up, maybe into a full
time deal someday, we'll see. But been running this thing now. We're
nearing a decade for about nine years. It's up in twenty twenty four hit
nine years of the Tech Lunch Bail and we've continued to grow. Obviously,
we may a lot. The big thing this offseason we rolled out the TLP
Insider Premium subscription, so we've got a lot of great stuff still for free,
but even more great stuff for those who are subscribers for only seven dollars
a month or seventy dollars a year, from recruiting to insights analysis on football,
basketball, great in depth stories, we've done some Q and a's as
well with former players. Hopefully get some more here coming soon, but we've
done some Q and as with former of tech Stars and all sorts of different
sports and coaches all that. So it's been a blast. We've really seen
a lot of growth. We've got a great team of student riders of other
friends of mine as well who wrote for us, producing great content on on
the ground. You know, with all the support we've had, it's been
great. I tell you this, it's a lot. It's given me a
lot more flexibility to cover a lot more games this year. This is already
on pace to cover more road games, just about all them outside of Florida
State, and it should be up there in Boston here in a couple of
weeks, but outside of Ford Stay being able to cover all of them this
year just about. So yeah, all that funding, all that support from
our from our subscribers has been tremendous and helping us grow further. And you
know, it's it's been a fascinating time. We've covered a lot of things
from when we launched the end of the Beamer era, through the highs and
the lows of the justin Funtday era and now into the rebuild of the Brent
Pryor era, along with plenty of highs on the basketball front, men's and
women's wrestling, baseball, softball, all sorts and beyond. And who's all
with you at the say at the say now, Tammy, you probably don't
have to name everybody if you've got some major people this you want to talk
about the four year We got some great student run, especially guys like Will
Walker who's been with us for a long time. He's gonna really bring a
lot of basketball stuff and brought some a lot of football covered as well.
Raza Umarani guy got the no a little last spring on the baseball front when
he was doing some stuff for some of the student publication. He has been
a great addition, especially football wise. Ryand have always been our base our
league guy for baseball and helped us out with a lot of things. We've
got a couple more people coming in pay and c has been a guy he's
not on texa student, but he's a good friend of mine and went to
Tech as well. He's been able to do some stuff occasionally. You know
the challenges of being a being a dad of a of a young son or
a young child, definitely means he can't just you know, I don't have
three time as much sometimes. But he's done some great work for us as
well. So we've been fortunate to have a great team. And you can
also hear me on on the radio sometimes, whether on ESB and Blacksburg on
Friday afternoons or on the Big Dog Sports talk show on w r A D
Radford on Monday mornings. So plenty of great stuff all around. And it
must have been fun calling uh calling I uhould say and writing about the women's
basketball run last year at last year as well, Tim. So that was
a blast and it was great to be down Dallas. That was That was
one of the coolest things I've gotten to do, cover that Final four court
side for that Tech LSU game. I thought I was about to be courtside
for a national championship game until that fourth quarter. But that was an incredible
experience being down there for the Final four as well, and that was an
incredible team. And the thing is, I think Tech fans should know that
the final four and twenty twenty four, the women's Final four is in Cleveland.
I just think I just think Tech fans. If you don't know that
already, you should because this tech team absolutely is a national title. They're
loaded, They're loaded. And you've also just one quick thing. You've also
been on the radio and Richmond as well, right, Yeah, I've made
I make some appearances periodically down ESPN Richmond as well, so see me a
few different places. And then sometimes other things pop up as well. Definitely,
definitely, you just want to make sure we give you, get get
our readers to know everything about you out there, everything about you. So
let's get right to it. Man, which acc football team was the most
disappointing team in week eight? And then go on the flip side, who
was the most impressive in week eight? Yeah, let's knock out the bad
before we get to the get that out of the way before we get to
the good, because there's plenty of on both sides. I think North Carolina
is where the conversation has to start. Look credit the UVA, what a
performance for them, Tony Elliott needed it. They're starting to be growing talk
amongst the national people. Some podcasts I listened to and stuff that maybe Elliott
could be in trouble this year. I think I assume that's that talk is
dead. After this game, all that's quelled, I would assume for now
at least. I mean, that's a huge win for UVA with all they've
been through as well. But North Carolina this is a bad Uva football team.
You can't lose this game. You're undefeated. You've put yourself in this
incredible position to where they're national They were in the national title or at least
the College maybe not the national title, but then the College Football Playoff one
they were there. That's gone. Now this is not a this this team
is out is eliminate from the playof phrase. At this point, the resume
is not going to be able to get there, and unless there's enough chaos
elsewhere, there's just gonna be too many roadblocks because I think a twelve and
one North Carolina ACC champion with a loss of UVA is not getting in over
an eleven to one, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, whatever,
who doesn't Who's yeah, the kind of the second team in the Big Ten
even for example, let alone Pack twelve champ regardless at Texas, Oklahoma a
twelve and one or thirteen and oh Georgia. So I think if you're North
Carolina just a disaster. This defense. North Carolina's got a better defense this
year. But an app State's okay, but they've had some disappointing They've had
some wet down games against app State, against Uva. I mean, you
can't give up over four hundred yards to this Uva offense. You know,
they were able to do a lot of things well in this game. I
didn't get to see a lot of it. I was just mostly stunned to
see that this was a game and that then uv was even come from behind
the little at halftime after half time. Just extremely disappointing and for an AC
that is definitely better this year. Naturally, this is a bad look for
the conference. As much as dumb as we have to care about that type
of stuff, it feels like that we really probably shouldn't have to. But
with the dumb time the sport is in. Yeah, that was a big
disappointment. And Georgia Tech I think also has to be on this list.
I mean I can't. I just Jeff, I hope you you maybe can
provide some counsel and buy some what Georgia Tech is right now, He's I'm
I'm puzzled. You know, you lose the Bowl and Green you beat Miami.
I'll bet it was a freak way it all happened. But still you
you beat wake Furs, you lose the Boston College at home or or I
don't know if this game was at home or at BC, but yeah,
yeah or at home. Yeah. I just this team puzzles me, the
short Deteck team. I I just don't think there's it's just such a weird
roller coaster. The games you want to think they're gonna win, they win,
the games they should win, they lose. So a couple of weird
ones there. And Clemson I think you have to mention as well, this
has been a disappointing season for Dabo. You bring in Garrett Riley, they
just have some issues. They have some issues with the skill position guys for
Club Nick and Club Nick. I mean they did throw a lot of yards.
Again, I think Brennan Stool we hadn't talked about it enough. I
think that's a guy they need to use more going forward. But it's a
clumsy year. Just have team just having a They're having a down year at
a time when the accs actually getting stronger and we're seeing it, and I
think Dad was gonna have to think about the portal and using the portal,
and also I think it may go beyond just portal, but the culture.
There's gotta be some things. I think he's got to look at and figure
out what's all off with this program, because it feels like there's some things
off a little with Clemson right now. Now. I think some people will
doubt that Dabbo will be willing to make change, but I mean he made
the offensive coordinator change to go get Garrett Riley. We look at the Highers
when he went and got Chad Morris at Brent Venables earlier early in his time
Clemson as the head coach. So and then of course you got the positives.
I think Florida State, I know there'll be manybe like it was a
little disappointing with that they were in it with Duke, But Duke's a scrappy
team. I think we've seen that under Elco. The they are just scrappy
as all get out. They are tough, they are gonna, they're gonna,
they're gonna, they're not gonna let They're not gonna be played off the
field unless you know you lose Riley Leonard, but Florida State grinded them out
and then when they saw their opening, they took advantage of it in a
big time dominant way. And I think it was this Florida. When this
Florida State team is firing on all cylinders, things can get harry quickly for
opponents. I mean, twenty one on the answer in the fourth I mean,
I mean we saw a couple of weeks ago with a not as good
Tech team as a duke team, and Florida State went out there in twenty
two ot them in the first quarter. So I think Florida State deserves more
credit. UV. I think we've already mentioned a little in Miami. You
know, this is Miami team. The tides weren't going well. You know,
Mario Crystalbaul embarrasses himself against Georgia Tech with the worst game management maybe the
twenty first century in major college football in his decision not to kneel, which,
by the way, I don't know how that somehow has hadn't been kneeling
all season. That that's the dumbest thing I've ever seen. But you lose
that game that way, You lose at North Carolina last week. At this
point, you have two ACC losses. Odds are you're not playing from ACC
championship this year they're very low. So you you know, you have Clemson
coming in, a Clemson team that's starting to fire on all cylinders, and
you get the job done at home, backs against the wall, needing the
show. All right, are we folding as a team? Is this team
about the fold here? And kind of you know, we start to wonder
if this team maybe is quitting after the debacle against Georgia Tech. They definitely
aren't. With a backup quarterback too, No, Tyler van Dyck. It
took a little bit for Emery Williams again in that game, but once he
did. Cooleby Young's the heck of a you know, very talented juco kid.
I think a big target on the outside. That's helping as well when
you have a guy like that. And the end of the day, they
found a way, they found a way. They're a better at football team
in the trenches this year. That's helping. I think Crystal Ball deserves a
lot of credit that this team is better than the trenches this year and they
found a way to get done and bounce back and now five and two,
you could argue, you know, they can get back in the top twenty
five. Maybe eventually they could go in and form maybe finish in the top
twenty five this year. So I think Crystal Ball deserves a lot of credit
and Miami as a whole, I think that's a good sign if you're a
Miami fan of the culture, that they could have an utterly embarrassing loss then
just fall apart in the second half against North Carolina and then come home against
a Clemson program and knows what they're doing bounce back. I mean, there's
a good chance the seven to two when they play at Florida State might be
the biggest Miami Florida States game we've seen in a while in November this year.
So I think Miami there's a team of the Week in the ACC.
It's probably the Kings. Jeff. You guys have to add friend. Yeah,
I wanted to talk a little bit about what Tim said. If you
have the thoughts on on on Georgia Tech, and I think, you know,
the stench of the Jeff Collins era still hangs very much over the program,
and I think the players, and this is something Brent Key is just
gonna have There's two things. I think he's just gonna have to somehow find
out way to work through. And and one is it's just how to carry
momentum with that team. It's one of those things that you almost don't know
what to do with your hands. You know, when they when they win
a game, they've they've really been unable to build any momentum. They get
too high after the wins and and then they get too low during games when
things start going sideways. So they you know, they play wake Forest,
played a very good game on the road at wake Forest, come back in
a disaster against Bowling Green. You know, he's able to build him up,
you know, before the Miami game, and and even though there was
the benefit of the of the crystal ball debacle, they were they that they
still played well enough to have an opportunity with that, you know, then
come up with a great drive when you know, and for two weeks going
into the bye game with with with Boston College and the game was was in
Atlanta. You know, I think they definitely it wasn't a Bowling Green type
situation. I think it was just a matter of you know, they got
defensive issues. Things start going sideways and they don't know how to handle it.
And that's that's a team that just doesn't know how to win. And
I don't think Brent Key knows how to get them there right now. He's
going to have to develop that part of his coaching ability on how to keep
you know, when things go a little bit sideways during a game that they
don't turn into an avalanche. That's that's the fourth time this season that a
team has went on a seventeen point or more unanswered streak. And you know
that has to do with issues on the defensive side of the ball. It
has to do with an offense that you know is better but can't sustain any
drives. So you know, it's I think it's it's it's more mental than
personnel, especially on the offense. With defense, there's definitely personnel issues,
but there's just a lot of factors to that team. And I think number
one, it's it's just mental. They just simply, you know, don't
know how to win, you know, and build momentum, you know,
when when things start going tough. You know, Miami game aside. I
mean it's not like they can't win a game at all, but you know,
I think you're starting to see more often than not that against quality teams.
And I think Boston College is now becoming a quality team. You know,
Costianos is becoming a massive headache as a quarterback. And and you know,
I'm gonna be interested to hear your thoughts, uh Tim on him,
you know, later in the week or later in here. You know,
I think it's it's coming, you know, down to it. You could
be Virginia Tech, Boston College, Syracuse kind of all fighting out, you
know for the Bowl spots. But you know, he's a quarterback that's really
coming along. And I think also with Clemson, I think you nailed it
about saying something was off. There is something really off with that team,
like you said, with the lack of skill, position, talent, and
speed. You know, that's that's definitely apparent. But there's a lot of
going back and forth with the players and the coaches, and then that's where
it's really apparent that that something is off. I mean, you've got will
Shipley arguing with you know, his coaches a couple of weeks ago. You
got Cade Club Nick, you know, going completely off script in overtime in
the second overtime and running a play that wasn't called. I mean, he's
not Tom Brady back there. You know, I don't think he kind of
I don't know if he has that kind of leeway. I don't think he
does. Because Dabo was Dabo Sweeney, you know, made it a point.
You know, we're not he was trying to do too much. That's
not the play we called. That's not a good look for a program trying
to, you know, do a reset. Here. You got players and
coaches just not on the same page. And and so you know, it's
it's running deeper there at Clemson than just a player or two here, or
or coach a coaching change here. I mean, they got real they got
real culture problems right now. I think at Clemson, which is strange because
that was what the program was known for for, you know, for almost
a decade. Is the culture of Clemson, and and something's broken there right
now. Yeah, Jef, I think that's hit the nail on the head
there. It's a weird situation. It doesn't make a lot of sense.
Uh, this is Clemson. Yeah, They're they've been one of the standard
bearers of great culture and a culture that can add a few points a game
in a way and therefore get wins. And you know, I think they've
they've slipped a little and maybe that's open some vulnerability up and there's some adversity
that they're they're fighting through from the highest of high standards they had that you
know, they're not overcoming a clems at the Clemson level we became used to.
I think it also helps you know that in the past Clemson for a
little bit there may be able to get away at times with some things.
The AEC has gotten better and I think we're I think that's catching up the
coaching in the AC. You look at Elko, you look at brom coming
at Jeff Brahm coming in at Louisville for example, Crystal Ball getting in at
Miami, even if his game management may be the worst among Power five head
coaches. If you look at these guys that have come in Norvelle at Florida
State, the quality and the caliber of coaching and program in the ACC is
getting better. After some of the nadiers that this conference hit and the clems
have not been as good. They just haven't fired us all in cylinders.
I think it's also meant that they've exposing. It might be by the way,
if this means, if Dabo can figure this out, this might be
the biggest gift for Clemson in some ways, because now everything is gonna come
to the surface. There's no hiding things anymore. There's no well, we're
skirt We're gonna skirt by an eleven. You know, we're the best team
still and there's not much competition. So we're gonna skirt through at ten and
two, win the ACC title game and play in the Orange Bowl. An
eight and four years forced you to look at things and you know that may
be where they're headed. And I think that for the rest of the ACC
that could that could be a scary thing because this could be clumbson two point
zero could come out of this. It wouldn't shock me as much as people
like to say that Dappo is in a guy for change. Some of his
some of the things that made him great were the changes that he made after
the initial staff he hired and the coordinator changes he made. So and that's
thing also Garrett Riley as well, like the club and the thing that's bad.
That's but let's give Garrett Riley some time here. Let's give him a
second year. I think there're gonna be people saying, well, Clumb's got
they got the wrong guy. Look at Ohio State and Jim Knowles. That
Ohio State defense was okay last year after they went out and got Knowles after
he had a great stint in Oklahoma State. But there are people like,
okay, is it really improved under Knowles? Look at this defense in year
two under Knowles and how he's built it up over time. Let's give Garrett
Riley a little time as well. If you're a Clemson fan, I think
you got to give him a little time. And I'm intrigued. I said
on Boston College as well, Jeff, like you mentioned Cassianos, I mean,
it's a dual threat guy. He's you know, there's a creativity.
And now the question I think we're gonna find out here in the coming weeks
is did Boston College just run into a really soft part of their schedule home
against UVA. At an Army team that's trying is overhauling their offense and is
having some you know, it's having the growing pains with that with Monkins kind
of overhaul that they're doing. And at Georgia Tech team that Jeff has you
mentioned. Yeah, still is a Jeff Collins era program largely that's still trying
to correct and fix some things and try to, you know, turn things
around. I mean you could look at for chinga Tech some last year for
example underprint pri and some just bizarre bad performances and then the occasional like when
they almost upset NC State on that Thursday night in Raleigh, which kind of
came out nowhere. You know. Sometimes you see that in the first year
with the new coach trying the base, having the basically overhaul something that wasn't
really working as well. So but with that in mind, with Boss College,
yeah, we're gonna find out about a lot about them. You know,
Yukon probably not. But if they lose Yukon, then we take a
step and hold on here. But halfway might be saving a shop to his
credit. If they get to a bowl game, I think he probably could
save his job and that would be huge for him. And there's a path
too, like say you beat Yukon, then you just got to beat one
of at Syracuse home against Virginia Tech at pitt and home against Miami, which
I think they can find a win in there. They also could go owe
four in next stretch too. Even with the way Casiana's played, they've definitely
made strides. But how much is it just a soft strutching schedule? Yep?
Great points that great points there, Tim, All right, let's just
slide into the next question here. What what ACC football game are you looking
forward to the most in week eight? And there's a pretty big one for
you all on Thursday night. Yeah, I mean that Tech Syracuse game.
That's a big one for Tech these next two weeks. And we'll get into
Tech a little more here a little bit, but these next two weeks are
it's a weird spot for Virginia Tech because if they can beat Syracuse upset Louisville,
there's a weird conversation that I can't believe that we would be having about
Virginia Tech at that point. And there's some research about some ACC tie breakers
that I would have to start doing that would utterly stun me in many ways,
especially after where Tech was and you know, seeing them lose at Marshall
and be at one and three and where things looked at at that point for
this season. Obviously, if they can win that game against Syracuse, which
I think is more of a toss up than the three point favor that Tech
is. You know, you're talking about a TECH team that can get to
a ball. This is a big game you have at BC and at UVA,
two games that Tech is gonna be favored and should win. But the
way they're playing thought at BC looks trickier by the day. But then again,
let's see how they play in a couple more games here. They're you
know, an interesting team to monitor. But step outside of that, I
mean, you gotta circle Duke at Louisville. I mean, who would have
thought Duke at Louisville is a bigger football game than basketball game at this point
in the ACC. I it's it's weird times, but I mean Jeff Brahm
has done a tremendous job in year one. I think, you know,
I mean it was I mean, it wasn't like you got a bad program
from sadderfield, but goes and gets Jake Plumber, goes and gets Jamari Thrash,
who's been phenomenal coming from Georgia State. Jehar Jordan's a playmaker, and
then put him against this Duke defense. You know, there's some turnover issues
that Plumber can have sometimes. I mean he's got eight picks on the season.
I think this Duke secondary could be very even if they don't have Riley
Leonard in this game. I think Duke is a threat. I think they
are absolutely a threat in this game. I really think they could win it
without Leonard. And if they do, watch out because I think Duke could
pull the upset on paper upset based on the Vegas line in this game.
That's gonna be fast thing. And if and Duke can Duke run the football,
you know, even if they don't have Leonard, can they you know,
feed Jacques more really make make you know, and give Henry Bolin some
of the easy throws. I think that's the thing. You know, he
strugglings enz State. Can you get him early in the game, some checkdowns?
Can he get him some screens, some you know underneath crossing patterns,
things like that. I mean, it's gonna be a riled up environment in
Louisville. It's gonna be a riled up environment. I mean, Louisville knows
that everything is still there for the play for they had the studying upset loss
the pit after the big win over Notre Dame, but Louisville can absolutely play
for an ACC championship still this year they're right there. The schedule sets up
well. Home against Duke, home against Tech, Virginia Tech, home against
UVA, at Miami. It sets up well, and then it goes of
course home against Kentucky. I mean, they got four of their final five
games here at home. Somehow only have I mean, I don't know how
they technically. I guess the Georgia Tech game was technically Atlantic in Mercedes Benzos
neutral site where technically in some ways, but you know, only a few
true road games on the schedule for them this year. It sets up well.
But this is the big This is the biggest hurdle coming up. I
think for them at Miami is gonna be tricky. Virginia Tech coming if they
get a big win over Duke. Could a Virginia Tech team that has a
couple extra days of prep maybe have something. I don't know, but this
is a big one against Duke in Louisville, and it's it feels like an
elimination game in some ways. Now I think it is possible a six and
two team could be the other team that plays Florida State in the Acecy title,
and yes, I think we can just go ahead and pencil in Florida
State in the Charlotte for the AC Championship. Yes, Louisville or Duke if
they fall, But then again, at that point they're going to have a
loss to Louisville or Duke, They're gonna have a tie breaker issue there.
So I think this feels like an elimination game for the race to get to
get the Charlotte. And it should be a great football Okay, even if
Roley Leonard isn't playing it. I think it's gonna be a great football game,
all right, Tim huh. Let's let which which ACC team could be
on upset alert in Week nine if they are looking ahead to a game on
their schedule or otherwise just sleep walking on the field. And one that that's
already caught my eye was Clemson opening up as a near ten point I think
it's nine, but almost a double digit favorite going into Raleigh. Yeah,
that that stuns me. I saw that line. I may put some I
may put a small bed over a fan or something on that one. Yeah,
I know NC States a mess right now, There's no doubt NC States
a mess. But they've had a bye week. Maybe they try to get
some things figured out and an Isa. That's the thing. Dave Georgan's a
good coach. This defense is still good, Robert and I are still a
pretty good offensive corny and we've seen MJ. Morris show a lot of potential
skill positions are lacking on this team big time. Can they figure it out?
Can they make this a low scoring, just dogfight? And how does
Clemson respond after last week? They're four and three now, I mean even
the thin ACC champi ACC title game chances they had are gone. Now it's
all gone. What is the motivation of this team? And you know,
yes, NC State's also down this year, but you know Raley is going
to be rocking for the text Dobell. You know that place is going to
be rocking. So yeah, I agree with you. I don't know how
this is a I think this is a one score game. The CW is
gonna get another entertaining game. By the way, who would have thought that
this game would end up on the CW before the season. I don't think
anyone saw that coming. But I think, yeah, NC State could definite
they take down Clemson in this game. That's that's an interesting one. Do
we have to mention Georgia Tech, maybe a host in North Carolina. I
mean, with the pattern of their season, I think North Carolina probably you
can get cruised. But I guess you kinda with the way they've been this
year, maybe you have to in some ways. And I will say this
is gonna seem like the crazy one, but I'm still not sold yet.
Like I said, the stretchup games they've ran through for Boston College, Yukon
is desperate for something to go right. They might be really bad. They
might just straight up be really bad. They've started the show signs of maybe
a little bit of life in the past few weeks. I mean, they
almost upset Utah State team that's not bad, beat Rice beat Rice at Rice
close against the USF team that isn't great. But you know, it's a
local game, regional game. They have some talent. I mean, I
think they You know, if you're Yukon, you're looking for a win in
the coming few games. You're not gonna get at Tennessee or at after this
game, So maybe there's a little more motivation just to show something. I
would not pick Yukon to be clear at all, and BC could easily cover
this game that twelve point spread. But I think if you want a big
shock, there's a spot for a big shock that kind of throws everything,
that kind of leaves all of us scratching our heads on how that happened.
Maybe just circle that game. Of course, this could age very poorly,
and I could look crazy for saying that, but I think I do agree
Clemson. If there's a big spot, I think that NC State Clemson game
is the big spot there in terms of NC State could just straight up win
that game in front of riled up crowd. Let's see how they respond after
the offensive mess they were a duke and when Peyton Wilson after the game said
this team needs to get with the program, which is a massively concerning statement
to hear from a veteran leader on that team. But let's see what happens,
all right to their good stuff. Let's step out of the ACC for
a bid here. Which national FBS game are you looking forward to them in
week nine? And we're wide open with this question. This can be a
Power five, non Power five, or you can even have an FCS matchup
and then give us your winner of the game or games if there's other ones
on your on your mind, yeah, you know, I'll pick one of
these, I will say, but one I have to mention that in the
midweek and probably the biggest midweek game in the country Liberty Western Kentucky on Tuesday
night on ESPNU. This is gonna these are these feel like the two programs
along with Jacksonville State right now that are the faces of this whatever you want
to call this new Look Conference USA, which is basically a whole bunch of
a whole lot of new schools in it. High powered Alston, Reid,
Alphinds, Liberty seven and zero. But are they that good? I don't
think they're as good as they were last year, but that might not matter.
Game and Bowling Green, that's that's an underrated game on on the radar
this week in the national picture that has big stakes in that conference race.
I think that's for some Tuesday night football. That's that's some big Tuesday night
football there. I think you got to talk about Oregon Utah elimination game in
the Pac twelve. Utah team that owns USC just came off a big win.
That offense is showing signs of life. They're figuring things out. That's
a well coached program, from Winningham to the Codinators, Andy Ludwig, Morgan
Scaley, It's a well coached program. It's a program with a lot of
character, culture, all of that against an Oregon team that is quite good.
This is a really good Oregon football team that seems to be on another
level. But this game is in Salt Lake City, and that is not
a place side I want to go. If I'm a organ I'm not looking
forward to it. I would much rather obviously, of course, you'd always
much rather be at home. But that's probably near the bottom of the list
of places I would want to have to play a road game in the Pack
Towell Bat and it's final year. I tell you, what a way to
go out for that conference, by the way, best conference in the country
probably this year. What a way for that league to go out. Uh.
That feels like a toss up of a game. I know Oregon is
a six point favorite. I think I have to lean the Ducks just because
I think Utah's offense is making improvements, but I think actually playing a good
defense or a real defense. Bryce and Barnes, I like what he can
do, but I think Oregon can get it done. They figured you know,
they kind of slept walked a little earlier against Washington State, figured it
out. So I really am intrigued by that game. I think game they
made the right choice going there. That's a huge game. Another kind of
sleepery. I'm not going to make a pick, but Miami, Ohio and
against Ohio in the MAC Miami coming off of loss to Toledo last week,
this feels like an important game to term maybe the other team that will face
Toledo maybe in the MAC Championships. So it's kind of a lighter slate in
terms at the highest levels of a sport. But in some of those,
you know, even the lower group of five leagues, there's some interesting games.
I'll tell you this. Oregon State at Arizona. Oregan State's only a
three and a half point faired Arizona has been just fascinating. I think Jed
Fish is they're getting that program right there. Out in Tucson four and three
but barely lost. Assissippi State maybe should have won that game, barely gave
Washington and USC all that they could whooped Washington State. Arizona's showing some life.
That's going to be a fascinating game. And for Oregon State, obviously
they're still right in that hunt in the back twelve. They're a really good
football team. That's going to be a test though on the road at Tucson
that came. You know, that'll be a fired up stadium. That's going
to be an underrated, underrated game. So there's a lot of interesting games.
I know, the national tension beyond Oregon Utah. You know it's going
to go to like Ohio State Wisconsin, which it's that game is not gonna
be pretty, not gonna be close. No Colorado Ucla just because of Dion
because you know, ratings, I guess or something look good for them.
Deon's done a great job there. Ucla is gonna kind of take care of
business in that game. And it's dumb that that's the ABC primetime game though
honestly it's it's not a great week. It's not a great week in terms
of big, big matchup that will say Oklahoma at Kansas. I don't know
a lot of the status of Jalen Daniels over there Kansas. I know he's
missed some games. I don't know if they think he can play, if
he can in that game circle that game as a potential upset alert. I
know Oklahoma got a wake up call last week against John Ree's plumb leg getting
healthy for UCF, which really helped that team. But that'll be a juiced
up environment in Lawrence next week or this week. If Kansas and even with
Bean Jason Bean at quarterback, I think they could give Oklahoma some issues.
I think Oklahoma's good. I think Venavoles is still building that thing up.
I don't think I think they found they on the way to win against Texas.
I don't think they're better in Texas, and I think they could be
vulnerable to a Cancas this week. That that Neuter on Fox is going to
be a fascinating game. I think there could be an upset there in Lawrence.
I think i'd pick Oklahoma, but there could be an upset there.
All right, Matthew, I think you've got something you want to add here.
Yeah, Tim, just real quickly, what about Odie? You at
JM You? I mean there's gonna be some old fashioned hate in that game,
right, Yeah, it's an underrated fun game. I think JAMU should
comfortably take care of business in that game. But you know what, it's
you know, JMU is firing on all cylinders. I think it's tremendous.
It's a shame. The NCAA has got to find a way to say,
if you heat me, if you hit these metrics, okay, on your
way, you can play in a bowl game. Because jmu's won the highest
funded group of five teams in the country. Anyway, I mean, it's
absurd the thought that you know, in some not ready state. Same thing
with Jacksonville State, that program seems clearly ready and not just a one year
thing that we'll see. But it feels like there should be a little more
flexibility and maybe a waiver should have been given. An Oh to you.
You know, Ricky, Ronnie deserved credit, you know, winning, got
himself a new offensive coordinator from Fordham, knew some things needed to be fixed
up, and they're playing better. Gave wake Force a big scare us some
turnovers again. That just beat app State at home last week. That is
a that is a huge win for Ronnie and oh to you, huge win.
I tell you this, It's gonna get tough here. It's gonna get
tough at JMU, Coastal, at Liberty, at Georgia Southern and home against
Georgia State. It's it's gonna get tough. They may not get the six
wins. They may close out with only one more win. They could get
the six though, that would be huge. If they can get to a
bowl game, that would be huge for if they can get there. Coastal
feels like one. They have to win at home. We can see them
on the schedule, probably by far remaining, but it'll be it'll be an
interesting game. You know, Odie, you might be able to make it
interesting for a little bit, but I think Jamie is just a machine,
and I think that crowd will be a little fired up in Harrisonburg for a
little in state action. The fact that it's at espa U is actually pretty
cool for the Commonwealth of Virginia, I think too. Yeah, I think
that's great, and I think I think that's great for the Sunbelt. I
think that's great for the Commonwealth Virginia. And by the way, the Sun
Belt phenomenal league. I think the Sunbelt, the way they've positioned themselves to
become maybe the best group of five conference out there to the Mountain West,
probably ending up with Washington State and Oregon State. You know, but the
Sun Belt went from in the previous realignment, you know, to being when
they were like the worst looking left for dead at times to what they've become
by creating a conference with a lot of just passionate fan base, a lot
of a lot of fan bases and programs that want to win in football,
you know that may not be in big media markets, but have great brands,
have good brand just good brands because they they win, they win football
games. And some good regionality. I think I think it's a little overhyped
in some ways of Sun Belt regionality, but there's a lot of good regionality
within the divisions too. I think it's a league that makes sense divisionally too.
Like I said with Marshall, jm U ODU Coastal Georgia, States and
Georgia, so the app state, a lot of these schools that also got
old FCS rivalries, and so it's like Troy and South Alabama and Louisiana and
it's it's proven to be a great, great conference, a really fun conference.
And this should be a fun game. This could easily be a height
of much let's call it a much more offensive game compared to the JMU Marshall
game last week. Where jam U's punter. By the way, he deserves
a ton of credit. Maybe he should be the national player of the week.
Seven punts and you get him down all inside the ten. That's one
of the great single game punting performances maybe of all time. That's tremendous by
that guy last week at Marshall. But that should be a fun one and
good on ESPN U. Yeah, good for that game being on television.
Honestly, that might be the game worth watching in the night in the evening
window. That might be that or ten. You know, maybe get get
the ESPN you know, the multiview that I get with YouTube TV. Should
hopefully have that in Tennessee, Kentucky and a couple other games too. Amen,
brother, Amen, brother Jeff, go ahead, you're up all right?
Tim Uh what is your evaluation thus far of both Commonwealth teams of Virginia
in the A C C Virginia and Virginia Tech. Yeah, I'll start with
Virginia before we get into the Hokies. I'll touch on them real quick here.
This was big. I think this was huge for them to beat North
Carolina. They're showing some this is this is a first sign of life.
Now this is this a fluke, you know fluke they figured out for one
week and then we'll see. I have my doubts. I think this is
still probably the worst team in the conference. But they found a way to
get a win and then pull off a top ten upset. We'll see.
It'll be very to see how they play at Miami and then Georgia Tech is
will be a very interesting game, probably the more interesting game to see.
All right, where is this team at under Elliott? Because there hasn't been
a lot you know, they've always obviously that program has been through a lot
in the past year, but even before, but before that and post there
has been a lot of good around this program under Elliott, They've they've had
a lot of struggles. I don't think they've gotten recruiting traction either, as
Price has really done a lot better of that in in State. They're just
not a lot of buzz around that program at all. In any facet,
this was a huge win. Let's see, I'm I'm a little more in
hold, but I still have a lot of doubts for Tech. Look,
this is what you wanted to see on the field the past few weeks.
They've gotten better. This is a team that's gotten better from the one and
three start. It feels like this offense has an identity of being physical,
running the football, of finding ways getting your playmakers in space, getting jen
using screens for guys like Jalen Lane, getting swing patches, the BA shoal
two to another guy's like that. It feels like an offense that has an
identity. They still have issues. That offensive line is bad. Maybe they've
gotten a tad better, but they're gonna have the portal on the offensive line
big time we get a few guys in there. They have some big issues
still there. Having a dual threat guy like Kyron Jones, who's getting more
comfortable, who has an offense that fits him, who's playing well. I
think one of the biggest things I took away from watching that Wake Force game.
He did a lot of things well within the structure of the offense,
and when he needed to get out make some plays and scramble, he was
effective. He may some really nice plays, and I think we're we can
say this is not a fluke with way the way they beat Pitt, the
way they beat Wake Force, the resilience in fight they showed against Florida State,
a team that's way more talented them. I mean, that was a
game for you know, after twenty two o start. They fought their way
back, need a little special teams to get in it, but they called
their way back. They found ways to get back in that game. The
run defense, which was a huge issue, specifically with just giving up the
home run play, has been cleaned up. I think we can say it's
better now than it was at the start of season with the way they played
against Pitt and Wake Force and and you know, Florida State wasn't didn't look
great in between those two games. But Florida State having those issues against Florida
State is different from having those issues against against Rutgers or Marshall. I'll bet
that Marsha running back Rashin Ali is probably one of the ten best running backs
in America period. That kid is incredible and if he transferred up, he
would probably have be transferred. He'd probably in all have an offer from every
program in America, including even probably Clemson, you know, even past Dabo
Clemson, just because of how talented that kid is at Marshall. But this
was a big one against Syracuse. If this team's get to a Bowl.
I think there's been a lot of talk of, well, if this team
doesn't get to a bowl, now it's disappointing. I don't think it is.
This team goes five and seven, which is what I predicted before the
season. That's a great I think if you're a Tech fan, you should
feel good about what you've seen on the field in the progress. They may
doesn't mean there may be shouldn't still be some changes in some areas, but
I think you can feel good. I think we you know, I think
the past few weeks it kind of quelled. All right, should there be
changers or not. Let's see the full twelve games. You know, we
don't need to make you. We don't need the force a change when this
is a rebuild and we're still building data with a better roster. Now this
is a roster that's much better. So this is a big game. This
game in NC State, it feels like are too big. You need to
get one because you know, if you're Tech, you're superior to Boston College
and the UVA Those are still a bit. Boston College does confound me a
little, but those are still those feel like still bottom tier teams along with
maybe Georgia Tech or maybe Pitt this year. In all honesty, but if
you're Tech, if you can get one of those two and you take care
of business against BC and UVA, that's a ball game that'd be tremendous underprint
pride. And you have this weird situation where you beat Syracuse on Thursday night
and which should be a Raucus Lane Stadium Thursday night game, and then you
find a way to upset Louisville, which, to be clear, I'm not
betting on that at all. I might pick Tech the lose both of those
games, to be honest, you know, but to get back to that
before you know, before we get back to that they can win those two
games, we gotta have a serious conversation about Virginia Tech playing in Charlotte this
year. Because they win those two at BC at UVA with a home game
against Ends, he stay in the middle is very winnable. Even now,
this is a team that is still rebuilding and is prone to a dumb slip
up, a bad slip up somewhere they shouldn't have. I want to be
shocking, but let's see if they get through these next two. Syracuse is
going to test them Garrett Trader. You know, like I said, text
run defense and improved. But Garrett Trader is going to test him with his
legs. There is no doubt about it. He is going to provide a
stiff test with what he can do running the football. So if your Tech,
you gotta find a way to contain s Trader and that rushing attack.
If you do, you probably win this football game. If you don't,
Syracuse probably wins this game. It seems a little reductive to say it's going
to come down to TeX's run defense versus Syracuse rushing attack, but it really
is. I was about to ask you that, Tim, That was my
follow up question. I mean, do you think that Virginia Tech can stop
that rushing attack? Because I have serious I have serious questions about about about
Yeah, and I've been the guy. It's funny, I haven't one of
the guys saying this run defense isn't as bad before their clear improvements saying this
run defense isn't as bad as you think, because it hasn't. But I
do have some concerns coming into this matchup because, yeah, Trader can do
a whole lot with his legs, but if you can contain him. You
can slow him down, you can if you can make him beat you with
his arm, you have the the secondary to cover these guys effectively. And
Trader's not a great passing quarterback. He's not. Obviously. We've seen some
things at times from Schrader, infamously back in twenty twenty one inside Lane Stadium.
But if you can contain this rushing attack of Strader and Lequin Allen,
if you can contain him, if you're tech, you're probably gonna give up
some chunk plays. You can prevent the home run play, limit the day
damage. You win this football game. I think they can absolutely win this
football game against the Syracuse team that this is going to be an important barometer
game for them. They had that great start four to oh, but they
beat Colegate, a Western Michiganian team that's in a massive rebuild. They won
at Purdue, which has been up and down in their first year on a
new coach, but credit to them, that was a pretty decent win.
They beat an Army team that at home that is still fixing their offense,
and then they got routed at home against Clemson, at North Carolina at Florida
State. This is a team they They've had moments where they've been in some
adversity within games and some margins maybe closer than or some final scores that are
wider than maybe the margins were, but they haven't been in a lot of
adversity. I mean, there's no one score games either way, and this
feels like a one score game. And so a team that hasn't experienced adversity
playing on the road in a hostile and a Thursday night that could get a
little diceier that that's gonna be an interesting to monitor this game. And I
think Texas offense obviously has got to try to there are things they got to
try to do obviously as well. They gotta look at what Florida State and
others did. And I think Kyron drones. You look at, like I
said, Jordan Travis, why dead you know, drones and the dual threat
abilities helping this matchup, and it's gonna obviously it's gonna go beyond just can
Syracuse run the football against Tech or not. But I think whoever wins that
battle, there's a very good chance that team wins the game. And you
know, for Tech, there's everything's to play for. That's the that's the
weird thing. Everything's to play for you have momentum. Can you build off
the buy off a week off it's a little shorten of a of a gap
between games because a Thursday night. Can you build off that? And for
Syracuse, can you reset as well? After the struggles they've had? Can
they hit the reset button? Turn this thing on? Because Syracuse could really
finish this season strong if they refined their form. I mean, you think
about it, averaging attack Boston College pit at Georgia Tech Wake Forest Favers can
go eight and four if they figure this thing out, they can go eight
and four, seven and five or eight and four over those five games.
If they don't, you know, and they and they and they have a
losing record, they're gonna be some uncomfortable conversation I think up in Syracuse this
year because that's gettable. That's very gettable if you're Syracuse. So this is
a fascinating game. Another barometer seed the progress of Brent Priye and the rebuild
and a barometer receive. Can Syracuse turn things around and get their season back
on track after the great after the great start against a week schedule, but
a great start they still had. Can they get it back on track,
you know, as the team that's at the bottom of the ACC for Syracuse,
they're not gonna put out of the ACC title hun there's no way for
them to get to Charlotte. But can they get to a ball game Sanling
for Tech and they get to a bowl game, And like I said,
if they win this week, we have a fascinating conversation going into Louisville next
week of all of a sudden, especially if Louisville vats Duke, we have
another ACC championship elimination game. And if Tech Wendsley's next like I said,
if Technic Wendesday's next two, we're talking about some crazy conversations because Tech and
North Carolina don't play each other this year, and if both went out after
that somehow, and I'm talking crazy and I think I'm gonna lose my mind.
So Matthew, Jeff, one of you please cut me off before I
completely go crazy. Went out the common opponent's thing becomes the tiebreaker, and
in that scenario, Tech has a one game advantage because North Carolina doesn't play
Florida State, and Tech would have a win over UVA that North Carolina doesn't
have, and I think I've I've gone delusional at this point. So that's
pretty that's pretty funny. That's pretty funny because somebody contacted Jeff yesterday and then
it was kind of funny saying like, yeah, you know, if Virginia
Tech wins out, there's a we're gonna be talking about a Virginia Tech trip
to Charlotte, and both of us were kind of like, I was kind
of chuckling in my mind because only a tech fan would be that analytical and
engineering, right, other than something from from and I can't believe, and
it's not gonna happen, but I know, I know. It was pretty
funny. Somehow it's there, and it's somehow it's there, and there's even
nationally. I think Josh Pate, for example, Mentionia Tech is, hey,
they're alive, still in this thing in the acc It's I have no
words. I didn't see. If you would have told me that after they
were one and three at Marshall, yes, even with Pitt and wake Forest
being a little down this year, you'd have told me that that we'd be
haven't we'd be even able to mention that. I would have thought you were
lost your mind and I Yeah, if you would have told me that before.
Yeah, if you told me at any point prior to Tech meeting Wake
Forest, I would have thought you're crazy. So college football, you gotta
love the sport. You gotta love this one quick follow up here and then
we'll go to the open mic. Uh So both of us and I think
we had this in common, that both of us, Tim had had Tech
five at five and seven. I also, at the beginning of the season
didn't think that NC State's offense would be as bad as it is. I
missed that by probably by it by five miles to be a frank of clear,
you know clear. I some would say the fog of war, right,
that you can't even see what's what's happening in front of you, right.
And do you think that Virginia Tech has a better chance now to make
it to a ball than you did at the beginning of the season. I
mean, do you think it could? Do you think it? There's a
real possibility that it could happen, happen and we could both be wrong about
it. Yes and no. No, just because I do think this team
is still this team. I think there's clear progress made. But I thought
that Anyway, I still think, you know, Syracuse and NC State are
still Syracuse is a matchup issue potentially with that running game, you've got to
go to Boston. I mean, you should win at Boston College at UV.
But this is still rebuilding team. NC State is still a good program,
and of course Louisvill's top twenty five team of you know, having a
very good year and a very good team. But yes, at the same
time, because like I said, this is not the team that lost to
Purdue. This is not the team that lost the Marshall. It's not the
team that got beat pretty soundly by Rutgers. This is a much better football
team. They're not great, but they've gone from bad to mediocre and at
least at least mediocre. We'll find out in the next couple of weeks if
they've continued to make improvements or if they're even better then we realize in some
of those games, but they've made some improvements. And yeah, NC State,
Yeah, I think I picked them third or fourth on my preseason ACC
ballot this year, part of the media poll. So hopefully please give me
another vote next year. Hopefully I won't make an error of that. I
won't have something that gets proved that wrong. I else said Clemson winning the
league over Florida State. I wasn't ready to jump on Florida State yet that
obviously has aged terribly aged like milk. So yeah, I think, uh,
you know, NC State has been a mess. Offensively, Syracuse,
what are they? I'm not buying Boston. I still think Boston College guv
A probably in the two of the bottom three or so teams in this league.
Still Boston College, though who knows at this point, because there's a
there's a there's that top tier of five or six teams or six teams with
Florida State at the top, and then Duke Louisville, North Carolina, Miami,
Clemson, and then there's a whole weird amalgamation of whatever everything else in
the league is this year, which by the way, is progress for the
AC stuff. That's still progress to have that type of top six. Then
again, we might be talking about if Virginia Tech does something the next couple
of weeks here, we might be talking about top seven. You might have
to but yeah, I think it's it's there. At the same time it's
there, there's more toss up games and whatnot. In games of Tech should
win down in the second half of the schedule than I foresaw before the season.
The same, me too, Man, me too, I'm I'm I'm
with you. One last follow up on Virginia Tech. Uh, it seems
like Virginia Tech has his quarterback in drones. You can't tell me that they
can think about flipping that and putting, putting in starting and starting Wells next
chair. Do you do? You don't think that that could happen, do
you? I don't. I think drones is there. Like I said,
I mean that even the depth chart now shows drones as number one in Well's
number two. And I just don't see you going the other way, especially
because I think this is what Tech wants to be under bowen and pride.
I think this is what they want to be, a dual threat type QB.
I think and Wells can do some things with his legs, and he
might at his best as a passer, maybe as a higher ceiling in some
ways than drones. But I think drones the gap between drones and Wells as
a pastor is not as big as some of my colleagues think. I actually
don't think it's that much. I think drones has shown there's some decisions he
made against way for us that we're like, uh, there's growth but to
be done here. There's still some growth to be done here. But yeah,
I just can't imagine now, with what we've seen from drones, how
he's continued to get better, how this offense just seems to be humming.
This just seems to be what Tech kind of wants to be in many ways,
and or at least a lot of what Tech wants to be. I
think they still got to fix the offensive line. I think there were choices
that were made, and then you had an offensive line coach change, and
you were and you were kind of locked into a choice that maybe a different
coach wouldn't have gone down terms of using the portal or being patient, and
that kind of shot you in the foot versus not with Joe Rudolph and his
very meticulous approach. That isn't great for the portal necessarily. But I think
you're gonna see Tech be aggressive it with offensive linemen in the portal. I
think they have to be. I think they have to go get a few
guys. But yeah, I can't imagine drones not being the guy regardless of
who you know, the offensive line next year. I can't imagine Drones not
being the guy at this point. And you know, Wells will have to
make a decision as well. Does he try to compete in the spring for
the job. And I don't think they'll. I don't think they'll rule it
out, like if Wells can show something show growth, okay, like if
he can show some more consistency, because I think he before he got hurt,
I think there were signs that he had made progress, and I don't
know how much that effect him in the second half. I think in hindsight,
when he's struggling in the second half against Purdue, it was clear looking
back at the tape he was hurt and it was affecting him in a big
way. And they and I think that's one thing if tech, if print
probably could do that over again. I bet he pulls Wells a lot sooner
because he clearly was not capable a point the way he should have or ken.
But yeah, I think this is the Drone show going forward, open
microphone time. What do you got for us? Tim? Yeah, you
know, I think one of the things I've seen some people talk about.
I think it's a great point nationally is there's one thing that you know,
talk about TV ratings in a you know, it's exciting to see more fans
in the sport. Let's celebrate that. But we've gotten this such this reductive
state. I think one of the podcasts puts on doo some of the people
over there, Stephen Godfrey, especially one of the national people over there,
big fans of them, and some and something. I don't always agree with
them, but I think they have good opinions. I think one of the
good ones think he mentioned specifically over there, and so I'll point out more
is we've gotten too obsessed with things like TV ratings in this era where we're
desperate for TV money, where there's fears of this super league, which we're
getting scarily closer because TV executives are the wheel at the wheel and I think
it's Stuart Mandell at the Athletic I listen to a different Boggle mentioned this.
But we have a sport right now, and I think we, as fans
and media and everything, are getting too obsessed with the ratings, which is
what we shouldn't be doing, because we should be covering the stories of what
the fans want, of what the people who love this sport want and trying
to addict because that's what makes the sport great. You know, it doesn't
mean when new fans in they shouldn't be able to bring in new stuff.
But we know what makes the sport great, and it's not what how many
we're not worried about necessary about TV ratings and I think it's just as he
wrote. You know, the TV executives are worried about the Giants fan and
queens what they want to watch, not what the Oregon State fan wants.
And corvalis who takes his son to football games. It's a sad state,
our leaders. But we don't have to We don't have to as fans,
as media, we don't have to cover that. We can cover the good
of the sport because that's what's built the sport, you know, the Dion
thing. Yes, there's some people who don't know a lot about the sport
who are talking, but it's exciting to see them get in into this.
And it's exciting to see the excitement about the Colorado. They're not a top
ten brand in the sport. It's exciting to see what Oregon State's done this
year and become you know, the way they've rebounded. Exciting to see what
Duke has done, even if their fans support may not be the biggest,
but it's exciting to see. There's so many great stories for the brands,
teams like Florida State being back Washington. What a great story that is the
PAC twelve and it's renaissance at it's you know, it's this, this,
this renaissance at the very end of the PAC twelve. It's a shame that
we've become so obsessed with TV ratings, and you know, because everybody's afraid
of the acc crumbling and all that, and Ken Virginia Tech in the lifeboat,
and it's scary that we're heading towards that. I hate that we're probably
heading towards that, and that is probably what Tech or all these schools are
gonna have to figure out. It's terrible, it's bad for the sport.
It's it's a time where it's tragic that there's no commissioner of college football again.
The way of this that the kind of put the TV executives in their
place a little and protect the interests of the sport. You know, I
grew up a NASCAR fan as well, and I've seen what happens when you
take start to take away of things and in the chase of TV ratings or
other things like that, and that sport decline. It's playing diehards still around
it and still great sport, but they lost a lot of things. I
don't know if I don't hopefully college football won't. I don't think it necessarily
will. But you know, we don't have to treat it like the TV
executive of being obsessed with TV ratings and things like that. You know,
there's so many great stories in the sport, and like I said, I
think, you know, we should be rooting in some ways for the ACC
to survive. Whether you're a Clemson fan, of Florida State fan in North
Carolina, Virginia Tech, all the way down to Boston College, Pittsburgh,
Syracuse. Our friends that are going to be joining us from SMU, Stanford
and cow which welcome, but also I think it's dumb. Sorry guys,
but though I do look forward to the Texas Barbecue, the barbecue in this
league continues to get better, adding Texas Barbecue into all the Southeastern barbecue.
Virginia and the Carolinas, Georgia all that's that's good, that's a positive for
the league. That team you might actually be the best of these three editions,
even though all of them make no sense. But you know, I
think we should still want the AEC to survive. There's no reason why we
shouldn't. The sport needs conferences. This support needs a lot of different voices.
This is not a twenty thirty team. This is not it's you know,
people talk about promotion relegation. Maybe that'd be fun. I don't know.
Maybe. And if we're gonna go down this path, find a way
to separate it out as college as football only conferences. And let's fix everything
else we've damaged in basketball and other sports by these moves. Let's fix that.
So you know, it is what it is. But guess what.
We have an incredible football season right now. This is an incredible season.
The SEC might get shut out of the playoff. It's feasible that the SEC
doesn't get a playoff team this year. That is incredible. There is incredible.
There are eight to ten teams at the top of the sport this year
could all win the national championship. This is this is this is one of
the best seasons we've had in a long time in the sport with there may
not be an elite team, but there are a lot of really good teams.
There's a lot of chaos going on, even if there's not been a
lot of like UVA over un c type upsets this year. So I beg
if anyone's listening fans the sport, like, let's not let's not worry about
the TV rays and the realignment crap. Let's just enjoy this season. And
by the way, all those realignment things on Twitter, all those rumors quote
unquote, you know, from random people. Maybe they're hearing that from someone
I don't know, but it's yes, all these teams are you know,
clems. Shocker, many of these teams are looking at their future. Not
a shock the sports and chaos right now. The sport's unstable, but this
is probably not gonna play out this way, and with all these TV deals,
it's probably not gonna play out TI twenty already anyway at the earlies,
with the next moves anyway till around the next TV media cycle. So enjoy
it. We got a great season. The twelve team playoff, I think
it's gonna be a lot of fun as well, There's been a lot of
meaningful games. There's a lot of meaningful games right now all over the sport.
We talked about Western Kentucky. Liberty mentioned that earlier, Miami and Ohio
against Ohio this week. There's so much meaningful football meeting played across the sport
this year. Very good takes, Tim, Very good takes Tim. I'm
gonna go through my open mic really quickly before and I'm gonna ask you another
question, Tim before we go to Jeff, and I'm just gonna consider this
the lightning round. I lived in Seattle several years ago when Husky Stadium was
rocking and it was the end. There were years when that place was so
deafening that you could see that you could see the groundshake in Seattle. It's
if you've been, if you've seen the Husky Stadium and you see the mouth
of it open to Lake Washington. It really is one of the most gorgeous
football stadiums in the country. And I have long hoped that Virginia Tech would
set up a home and home with Seattle just so people could go out there
to that stadium. It is that gorgeous and it's one that I hope happens
in the future. I saw a Washington team last night, Tim and Jeff
that I think could lose two more games this season because Washington has no rushing
attack by choice, I might add, might add, they have absolutely no
rushing attack to speak of. There completely a spread passing sort of team.
And you know, to be fair to Washington, they have what many people
think could be an NFL quarterback. They for sure have two offensive linemen that
are going to play in the NFL, and they have some NFL receivers on
that team, so they have some quality talent on that team. But they
are one dimensional, very much one dimensional at times. And Tim, I
want to run through the schedule for you here that Washington has left because I've
talked with Jeff about this several times on Twitter and several other folks too.
This is really one of the toughest schedules in the country. I mean,
outside of playing Stanford next week, which I think will be a win for
a Washington. This is what Washington's November. They go on the road to
usc That's a Saturday night game on November fourth. It's really going to be
that will be it, I you know, it says TVD now, but
I believe that's going to be a Saturday night game. I believe that's one
that everybody in the country is going to be watching. Then they have Utah
at home on the on Veterans Day, Then they go to they go to
work in States on the eighteenth. Then they close the season against their Apple
Cup opponent, Washington State at home. This is a barn burner schedule,
Tim, I believe they're going to be Stanford, but you know, with
their performance against Cal against Arizona State this week, who knows what's going to
happen. But I still believe that they're gonna be Stanford. But that month
of November, Tim, how many wins is Washington getna get? Because I
believe they need to be undefeated to get into the College Football Playoff. But
I'm gonna be fair fair to them too, Tim. If they're undefeated,
they will have the number one seed. So the four as years, Tim,
I want to hear. I want to hear about the Huskies because I
think I think they've been impressive, but I got had a lot of concerns
on Saturday. Yeah, I'm gonna actually I think I think they can get
in with one loss. This year. I think the PAC twelve champ with
especially with Washington, I think it's about as good of a path as any
for a PAC twelve champ to be the best I think. I think if
it comes say it came down to a one loss Pack twelve champ versus a
one loss Georgia SEC champ, I think it's we're in crazy town. But
I think Washington has the better resume. And by the way, I think
it's a tough schedule, there's no doubt. But you look at USC.
USC's defense is bad, is again bad, and I think Washington could put
a fifty and I think they had a letdown game, but they found a
way the scrap out. They found away the scrap and claw and win.
That game is gonna be a shootout against USC. But Washington's defense has a
pulse. Their defense is not maybe won't set the world on fire, but
it's pretty decent. And I think, yeah, I think that that's gonna
be a tough game, but you know USC's got issues defensively. You taugh
at home that game. Being at home is huge when you can lean on
those home fans, it'll be rocking in Seattle. That's gonna be a lot
of fun. I think they can definitely. You know, it's much better
that that game is in Seattle than Salt Lake City, unlike Oregon. At
Oregon State, it's gonna be tricky, you know. I mean the final
two weeks, you've got the two PAC twelve teams that have been abandoned by
everybody. So you know, especially in Corvallis, they're gonna be angry.
They're probably a bunch of Washington State fans who try to get tickets. But
it's a very good game, very good thing for Washington that that that game
is not in Pullman, that's in Seattle. I think they went three or
four. I think that. I think I think they went at least three
or four. I think they could win out. I think they could go
into the Patrol Championship Game twelve and lo, I know last night was not
pretty, but that happened. I mean, look at Florida State against Boston
College. It's a good points. That's a very good point, and I
do agree, but that they are they do have a couple running backs who
are averaging you know, five six yards of carry as well, and I
think that offensive that passing that adn roma Dunze is a first round type talent.
Polk McMillan. It's a really good passing attack. And now Pennix has
had his moments. He's not a perfect player, but I think, and
you have a Kalin de Bor who knows how to win. This guy's won
all levels of the sport Fresno State. I gotta look it up on my
laptop here, but I can't remember where else he he was in Sue Falls,
Sue Falls, there we go. I should have known, you know,
I remember that. I know, I mean, and I think about
it. Yeah, I'm looking up right now. But I mean, he's
a three time NAIA champion. You know, he won three championships in five
seasons as a head coach there. I mean, he's only on three sixty
seven and three. This guy knows how to win the board, knows how
the win and he's also worked with you know, he knows Pennix from you
know, he was in OC for a year in Indiana before he got the
president state job, so he's he's been with Pennix in a way for a
while. So he knows how how to get the Pennix right after a bad
week. I think, and so would not shock me if they lose one.
It would not shock me if they go un defeed it either, even
against this tough schedule, I think they're that good, you know. And
I think a one loss Washington or a one loss Oregon or one loss Utah
pac twelve champ a very good chance can get in the College Football Playoff.
I mean, even like I said, Utah for example, you look at
them, I mean, say they beat Oregon, they win at Washington and
went out and then win the Pactoral Championship. They have a win over Florida
at Baylor, they have win over UCLA. That's a darn good resume.
That's a really good resume, even Oregon State. That's the thing, so
many of these teams, all these teams, they got one loss, you
know, Oregon State, with Washington and at Oregon, and then you go
win the Pactoral Championship, wins over Utah and UCLA two it's pretty good.
So but also they might end up producing an eleven and two champion. And
this is a perfect reason why a twelve team playoff is great, because it's
gonna be great because you know, we might have a year with you know,
unfortunately wouldn't have been an issue next year when there's only four, you
know, four power conferences. But this would have been a year where we
could have five elite conference champions one law for the power conferences. And you
know, you look at every conference champions like college should be in there,
whether it's Texas or Oklahoma, Florida State, Georgia, whoever of the three
Ohio State, Michigan or maybe Penn State come out of Big Ten. So
I say Washington only loses one the rest of the way and in the regular
season, then we'll see what happens to the conference championship. Well said friend.
Well said, Jeff, you're up right. Yeah, I'll just be
real brief with my open mind here. Uh, tomorrow, we are two
weeks away from the college basketball season beginning, and this that that is my
favorite favorite sports time of year, when you've got college basketball and college football
going. So definitely looking forward to that and kind of hats off. But
I would say to the the a c C, a D s and presidents
because there was actually a ACC fall meetings that really didn't get talked about last
week. Uh, those were held in the past week, and they did
talk about revenue generation and and you know all the stuff realignment wise that people
are worried about, and you know, it was quiet. That was the
best thing about it. There was no you know, we know everyone's looking
at their own self interest, but honestly doesn't do any good for for different
schools to publicly show out, I would say. And it was quiet,
And then I think that was a good thing. Focused on the football because
it is like Tim said, it's a great college football season. The ACCS
had had a really strong season. You know, some really nice out of
conference wins. Florida State right there in the in the mix for a playoff
spot. You know, see how they handle things down the stretch. I
you know, just like you said, Tim, they're really I don't think
there is a great team. And I don't know about Michigan. I mean,
I know they're blowing everybody out. But I think I said out of
the podcast last week, you know, play somebody with a pulse before you
kind of catch my attention. I think there's probably a dozen teams in the
country that would you know, put up similar you know type results against the
schedule they played, or at the very least they'd be undefeated as well.
But you know, so I'm not I don't think there is a truly great
team at the moment, but I know Florida State has a great player who
takes what I would be a pretty good team and can make them potentially great.
You know, Jordan Travis against Duke, and that's a really good Duke
defense who contained that offense for a good portion of that game. But you
can only hold him in that offense so long and he eventually started finding holes
there. And I know the Riley Leonard injury really hurt Duke there. But
I mean, Jordan Travis is a really special, special player and so it's
gonna be a great second half to the season here. Amen. Amen,
Tim, thanks so much for joining the All Sports Discussion ACC podcast. Thank
you for spreading your Sunday Night with us friend, and we would love to
have you come back on the show again sometimes pleasure. I look forward to
coming back on here, and yeah, I got a few excited tell you
this. Who knows how this is all gonna play out? This year?
Got a lot of chaos coming, I think, and Jeff you mentioned it.
Basketball season is almost here and it's gonna be a very interesting year of
the A SEC on the men's side and on the woman's side. There's a
lot of excitement obviously for Tech this year. Could this be the year for
a team national championship for the first time for Virginia Tech coming in women's basketball
specifically, we'll see way to give us some good insight there, Tim,
And thank you so much for coming on and it was a good closer and
we'd love to have you come on the show again sometime. Thanks again,
and have a great week, guys.