Hello, Welcome to this Week in the Atlantic Coast Conference podcast for All Sports
Discussion dot Com. This is Jeff and you can follow me on Twitter at
Talking ACC Sports. Your moderator for the show is Matthew and you can follow
Matthew on Twitter at asd Underscore, Hokey Smash. I'm going to turn over
to Matthew now as he introduces our guests and Dan, I'll be sending you
the invite to speak. So this is Matthew. Thank you Jeff. This
is the podcast for All Sports Discussion dot com. This is the longest running
independent ACC podcast in the United States. We are an episode four hundred and
seventy one today and we have a wonderful return guest on tonight and Dan Carro.
He's the owner and operator of Treadmillhorse dot com. You can follow Dan
on Twitter at at treadmill Horse, and it is a blog that is focused
on Virginia Tech Athletics. Said, heavily concentrates on men's basketball and football,
but you've also seen a lot of covers there on women's women's basketball and baseball.
I mean, Dan really covers it all over at his site. But
the heavies, of course are the big revenue sports in Virginia Tech, and
he's also also as a fan of the AEC just like us. Dan,
welcome back to the All Sports Discussion a SEC podcast. We're happy to have
you come on as a return guest. You've been here in several capacities over
the past. I mean, you've been here as a guest podcast host.
You've been here as a panel member. You've been here during college basketball season.
You've been here during college football season for weeks at least like you are
this week. You've been here for preview, for college football previews. You've
done it all for us, and we're happy to have you back. Then,
Welcome back. Yeah, thanks, thank you guys for having me.
I'm really excited to be here. I'm really sorry about last week. We
had some technical difficulties which had me get pushed a week, so I apologize
for that. But yeah, just excited to be on the show again.
That happens, Yeah, it happens to the best of us. So here
we are. Man, we are reviewing Week four. Which acc ACC team
do you think was the most disappointing team in Week four? Dan, the
floor is years, Yes, I think it was Clemson. They had a
big opportunity to bounce back after their loss to Duke in Week one and get
themselves back into the college football playoff discussion, but they couldn't get it done.
They got close, and last week I thought they had a really good
opportunity, like playing at home to upset Florida State. Yeah, but it
was just they just weren't getting able to get over the hump. And like,
if they were able to get that win over Florida State, I think
it would have got them back into the college football playoff discussion because it would
have been a huge win over a top five ranked team. Just weren't able
to get it done. So I think that was disappointing because they were definitely
the team with the biggest opportunity this week. So there are lots of candidates,
Dan for most impressive team. You can talk about more than one if
you want, But who do you think was the most impressive acc team of
Week four? And again, you can say as as many as you want
here, because we think there were probably a lot of really good performances And
so for me, it's I gotta go with Florida State just because it's the
most impactful nationally so basically they solidified their position going into like the College Football
Playoff discussion, and from here on out it seems like there their schedule generally
is pretty manageable. This was the one that you'd really look on the schedule.
They have to go to Clemson and get a win that that looked like,
on paper, the most difficult game. So getting over the hump here
is definitely a big step forward for them, and I see them having a
really good chance to win the conference and go to the College Football Playoff.
Aside from that, there's there was a lot of really good performances this week,
like Miami having a dominant win over Temple. I thought they looked really
good there, and for once and in the last couple of years, Miami
looks like they're they're actually back. They're playing well, the offense is looking
good. So I think Miami's win was really impressive. Georgia Tech being able
to pull out a win like especially being able to pull out a win on
the road, I think they looked really good. Like wait Forrest came into
that game three and oh, I know it's a bit of a questionable three
and Ozho just because like they had that really close win against so do you
but Georgia Tech being able to take a business on the road. I thought
they looked really good there. And then obviously North Carolina again like another ACC
ranked team, they want to show that they're deserving of that ranking. They
want to stay ranked. And you got Pittsburgh who has got some offensive struggles
at this point, but being able to go on the road again and prove
that ranking. I thought they had a good week to all good responses.
I'm just gonna add one thing here. Louisville's four and oh right now,
and they looked I mean, BC isn't that great of a team. Obviously
they got some major challenges, major talent challenges, but it's pretty terrific that
a new coach is walking in their four and oh in Louisville, right.
I mean, I'm most impressed with their offense. Their offense looks awesome.
They really balanced, They're putting points up against everybody that they're playing. So
I think I think Louisville is a story to keep watching on. Like they
have a decent defense, but it's the it's the offense that's really putting on
the show right now. Again, like like most teams, in the in
the ACC, they've got a pretty manageable schedule. So if they can keep
it up, like, look at them to be one of the potential top
two team in the a CC go into that championship game. And I'm certainly,
I mean, I'm probably gonna go on here because it actually was a
really good week for the ACC last week. You know, you always,
you always get worried about playing a service Academy. Syracuse still met the bell
there, right they I told Jeff last week, I thought I was concerned
that Army could go in there and potentially upset Syracuse. Syracuse found a way
to found a way to win there. They're four and oh, I mean,
and you're not gonna you know, they're probably they very likely will end
up in a bowl game this year. It's the magic of the JMA Wireless
Dome. Matthew. You know, you don't. You don't just waltz into
the JMA Wireless Dome and come out with the win. So it's it's that
Syracuse magic. They got run up there. And Duke I might add as
well, I mean, I here, I am, I sound like I'm
preciate the quart I mean, I sound like I'm just ringing off teams like
an auctioneer, but there are a lot of teams that have played pretty I
mean really pretty well so far. I mean, would you, Dan,
would you suggest I'm just gonna do one follow up before we go to Jeff.
I mean, QB plays pretty strong in the conference this year, don't
you think. I think the SEC would love to have the quality of quarterbacks
that the ACC has this year. So I definitely agree with that. The
thing that's different about the a SEC this year, We've seen a SEC teams
go through the first couple of weeks of the season and get ranked, and
like they'll have like a good win and Week one or two, and then
you'll see a big flop from those ranked teams. Thus far into the season,
like the ranked teams seem to be holding up, Like Florida State continues
to look good, Duke's looking good, Miami's looking good, North Carolina is
looking good. So it doesn't look like those ranked teams are a fluke.
They're they're really holding up their end of the bargain. I actually think too
that. I mean, you know, if Louisville wins their next game,
they're going to end the top twenty five. I can't see that they're not
going to do that, because they're not. They're knocking on the door to
get there right now. Jeffred, you're up all right, thank you,
Matthew Dan with what ACC football game are you looking forward to the most in
Week five? So I'm interpreting this question as a game that a team in
the ACC is playing, because technically Notre Dame is not an ACC team.
But the one I'm most excited about is Duke versus Notre Dame, simply for
the fact that Duke has a chance to break Notre Dame's twenty four game regular
season winning streak I get versus the ACC. So I think dating back to
twenty nineteen, no ACC team has beat Notre Dame in a regular season game.
There was that pandemic era game during twenty twenty where Clemson d did beat
Notre Dame in the ACC Championship game that year, but other than that,
dating back to twenty nineteen, no other ACC team has beat Notre Dame in
the regular season. So I think this week Duke has a very good opportunity
top set Notre Dame. Right now, Notre Dame's favored the games in Durham,
and like as Clemson found out this year, going into Durham is not
necessarily an easy place to go play. So I think Duke has a pretty
good shot this week on ABC nationally televised game to upset Notre Dame, Jeff,
I want to do if you don't mind, Yeah, definitely, Matthew,
Dan and Jeff. I'm low key looking forward to Louisville and NC State.
I think that's going to be a hell of a game, in part
because North Carolina's has got a really good defense, right Their defense keeps them
in a lot of games, and Louisville's got a really good you know,
got as dam mentioned earlier, Louisville's got a really good offense. And I
will be interested to see how that all turns out. I mean, right
now, it says that louis you know, I think I saw the line
on it. Louisville's favored by three, and I'm I'm a little surprised that
they're favored going into going in if I'm not mistaken that game's in Raleigh,
is that correct? That's right, Yeah, that's I'm a little surprised that
their favored going in there, and I will have I will have my eye
on that because that is as it's an ESPN game, it's on Friday the
twenty nine, it's at seven o'clock. It's it's the only one in that
time slots, so there's gonna be a lot of people that are watching that
game. And I'm really highly intrigued by that game because I think you could
see, you know, if if NC State wins that game, that's another
team that could be knocking on the door or the top of the top twenty
five. And you know, you know, and they've been for the most
part fairly consistent. You've always wanted to see them see if they can get
to the next level by getting a big win. Last year they got they
win against Texas Tech, and but you you would like to see them make
that next step and if they if they can, you know, if they
defeat Louisville on Friday, they got a chance to get back in that in
that top twenty five and have have some have a meaningful game. Go ahead,
Dan, Yeah, I was just gonna say, I think the Louisville
being favored in that game is mostly because NC State just didn't look super impressive
against UVA last Friday. I mean, like, I think I think NCY
State can play better than they've played the these first four weeks of the season.
I think I think they can take it into up to another gear.
I think we haven't seen thus far everything they can do offensively. I think
the defense is playing okay, but in recent years they've played better. So
we'll see which State team shows up against Louisville. But yeah, I mean,
they've just got to prove that they can stop that Louisville offense. Like
Louisville has been putting up points against everybody they've played this year, So we
just got to see, like which NC State team shows up. If they
show up as that really good defensive team that we've seen over the past couple
of years, I definitely think that ENCY State can win that game. Absolutely
absolutely go ahead, Jeff, all right. I mean, and you mentioned
it already, Dan, that that Duke in North Carolina, I mean the
Duke and Notre Dame game. I mean, what a great opportunity for Duke.
They the game sold out, is already sold out, sold out last
week, they got game day going to Durham for the first time, you
know, and Notre Dame coming off a devastating loss to Ohio State, a
game that they really had no business losing. Up fourteen to ten, and
Ohio State on that final drive they dropped two interceptions Notre Dame did that could
have ended the game. They gave up a third and nineteen, a fourth
and seven. They really gave that game away against Ohio State. And that's
that's gonna be I mean, if you're on Notre Dame's team, that's gonna
be really tough to overcome. You know, you've got to focus. You've
got to get focused on Duke right away, because we know what they're capable
of. We saw them again. I mean, they wouldn't have been clemsoned
by three touchdowns. I don't care how any mistakes Clemson made. You know,
that was a three touchdown game. And they've blown out everyone they played,
and Notre Dame's gotta come, you know, turn around following that Ohio
State loss, put that behind them and try to get ready for Duke,
knowing that they had that game won and they have no margin for error for
themselves to get back into the playoffs. They lose a second game, you
know, they're they're finished, and that's that's a lot to come back from,
in my opinion, knowing that they should have, you know, beat
Ohio State. I think Duke has a tremendous opportunity to win that game.
And if Duke wins, I think they're a borderline top ten team, like
they could bault them up into the top ten. So, just like that
Clemson game in Week one, if Duke wins this game, like they like
they're very much in like the national conversation, if not just the ACC conversation,
like, it would be a huge win for them. Yeah, absolutely,
all right, Dan, which ACC team could be on upset alert in
Week five if they are looking ahead to a game on their schedule or otherwise
just sleep walking on the field. So we just talked about Notre Dame having
played Ohio State and then having to go to Duke, So like we could
see a letdown from Notre Dame, but in the same way we could see
a similar type of let down against Florida State. They've got Syracuse on the
road, and as I talked about earlier in the podcast, Syracuse is gonna
be a tough place to play, like a sneaky, tough place to play.
It's a noon game, it's a noon game up in h Up in
the northern part of New York. I mean, like, just Clemson better
watch out, Like that's not one you want to get there for that noon
game and sleepwalk through. So I would watch out if I was the Clemson
Tigers. That's one that I'm definitely keeping an eye on. Yeah, that's
that's absolutely true. I mean, over the last several years, even when
Clemson was was at the top of college football, when they were they were
among the elite of the elite. Nobody gave Clemson more consistent trouble than Dino
Babers. I mean, they beat Clemson when they were, you know,
at the top of their game and consistently, you know, they're able to
get Clemson into the fourth quarter. And you know, now they're coming into
this game just like you said, you know, off their own, you
know, kind of devastating loss to Florida State, a game that they were
in control of until mistakes late late in that one. I mean, how
do you put that game behind? Go on the road to Syracuse, who's
playing with a ton of confidence and experienced quarterback, a pretty salty defense,
and Dino Babers, who's never coached with any fear of Clemson. That's an
extremely dangerous game for the Tigers. And it wouldn't shock me at all if
Syracuse comes out of there with a win. I mean, clearly Clemson's more
talented, but Dino Babers has gotten into the fourth quarter with in years where
there was a much bigger talent gap than there is this year. I mean,
I just see noon start and Clemson coming off that huge game of Florida
State that has sleepy early start written all over it for Clemson. So iff
Clemson wants to win that game, they got a better they better get off
to a fast start because if not, it could it could be really dangerous
for him. Yep, definitely. All right, Dan, let's step out
of the ACC for a bit here. Which national FBS games are you looking
forward to in week five? And we're wide open with this question. This
can be Power five, non power five. You can even have an FCS
matchup and then give us the winner of that game or games that you've got
your eye on. So there's a couple that look really fun. So we're
already talked about Notre Dame and Duke. That one looks really fun. Other
than that like, you've got LSU going to Old Miss. I think AlSi
is playing really good ball after that loss to Florida State in Week one,
so I could see LSU going I'm going into Old Miss and getting a win.
So that's one to keep an eye on. And then I'm always looking
for those like really good Thursday or Friday night games, and that Utah going
to Oregon State. That one looks really fun to me too, And that
one, that's another one where I'd be looking for Utah to see if they
can go on the road and get a win. Obviously, like every week,
I'm saying what Dean Sanders is doing. So they've got They've got USC
This week, I think you're going to see more or less a repeat of
what Oregon did to Colorado. But that'll that'll be a good one to keep
an eye on. This week's not as fun as last week in terms of
having a lot of high profile ranks matchups, but there's there's definitely some interesting
ones on the slate. All right, Okay, Matthew, what have you
got? You got a little extra thought here go for I just like to
watch Michael Peenix Jr. From University Washington I think he's such a stud and
I think he's the best quarterback in the country right now. And I've always
said, like when the University of Washington is good, when the Huskies are
good, when when Seattle's Husky Stadium is rocking, college football is just such
a such a much better place. He's the best quarterback that Washington's had in
thirty years, I think in three decades. And that I stayed up,
guys, I stayed up and watched them absolutely destroy Cal And you know it's
He's just really an outstanding football player. He's got two two players on his
offensive line. In my opinion, they're going to be playing in the NFL
next year. And I love what I love watching them. I mean,
if they if you know, I actually think Jeff and Dan you can grab
me if I'm wrong, but you know, I think that Washington has one
of the toughest schedules they've seen in the country because I think they closed with
if I'm not mistaken, they closed with with what what with Wazoo? With
Utah? With h Gosh, I think another Oregon state in Washington State.
Yeah, and all this, I mean, they have like four ranked teams
that they close the season with and it's just ridiculous. It's ridiculous actually,
and I almost think of one last Washington could could could warrant themselves contention into
the playoffs. It may be difficult, but they're they are they are really.
This is the first time in years and probably the best Washington team I've
seen in a long time. They have speed at every single position and they've
just done an outstanding job. And every time I can find an opportunity to
watch the Huskies, I will. I used to live in Seattle several years
ago, and they're just playing. They remind me of the teams of the
team, the teams of older years. I mean, and I even though
I think they're probably going to destroy Arizona, I will find it. I
will certainly find a way to make time to watch it. All right,
sounds good, Matthew Dan. Let's uh, let's get a little fun here.
You know, yea, at your tailgate, what is your snack of
choice at your football tailgates? What is your meal of choice? So my
snack of choice is really anything that I can eat one handed with a beer
in the other hand. So the first thing that came to mind there was
like chips and caeso, you know, like anything that I can like any
sort of dip, you know, like if it's one of anything you can
pair with like tortilla chips or anything you can pair with potato chips, like
anything like that. That works because you can eat it with a beer in
your hand. So I think, I think that's my go to snack at
the football tailgate. How about your meal at choice? So along the same
veins, I need to be able to eat it with one hand. So
it's like dogs at Hamburgers. Anything I can hold in one hand and keep
a beer in the other hand, Like, that's That's what I'm going with.
So it's like either one is fine, just one handed foods. And
if you're attaching their smoking turkey legs, like they would fall into that same
category. You can hold a turkey leg with one hand, you're good to
go. So anything that falls into the one hand very good, sir,
Very good sir. That's most stuff. I think most stuff. We'll have
all kinds of people that share good food every foot at every tail gat and
blacksburg and I'm sure at Clemson it's open microphone time, Dan, what do
you got for us? So what I got this week is I'm really annoyed
this year by the running clock in college football. It was a rule change
that they implemented for this season that even when somebody runs out of bounds,
like the clock stops on, the clock restarts on the ruddy for play.
And the reason they did that was to try to beat up the game,
But in my mind, the real reason for doing that is just being able
to shove more commercials during game time, because as we can all see,
the games aren't any shorter than they've than they were last year. And I
saw one study that said that in a three and a half hour game,
a third of that time, like almost an entire hour, is spent showing
commercials. So I just think that's that's a rule that they might want to
think they might want to roll back next year. I appreciate what they're trying
to do. Like they claim player safety, I don't think it has anything
to do with player safety. I think it just has more to do with
fitting in more commercials during the game. So I'd like to see them just
go back to the way it was. I think there's plenty of commercials being
shown during college football. I don't think they need to make any effort to
fit more in, and all we're getting is just less football. We're getting
less football and more commercials. So that's a rule. I'd like to see
them go back to go back to the way it was to this season,
just because we're just getting less football every every college football Saturday, and so
like it's one that I think they should rethink well done. I'm gonna use
my my open microphone, Dan to ask you two questions. My first question,
did you see C. J. Carroll's tweets regarding justin Flente in the
schedule and comparing it to this year's coach. Did you see that tweets?
Oh my gosh, that port that guy, he got absolutely destroyed. I
looked at it and I thought, do you still have a Twitter account?
It was pretty amazing. It was pretty amazing, and I can't. I
have to tell you. Maybe on the next episode. I'm probably when we
have more time, I'm going to read some responses, because I read some
responses to his tweets. But he he retweeted it back and said, you
know, I had all these laugh emojis and say, oh boy, I'm
even getting absolutely crushed here. But I can't imagine that. He he didn't
expect any different, and I thought I did chuckle when I saw some of
those that kind of you know, you have you have to chuck a little
a little bit when you when you have when you have perhaps a more challenging
football season, which by coincidence, Dan, that's gonna be by next question
for you. What is your take so far on twenty twenty three Virginia Tech
football? Dan, Yeah, it's it's very much not going well. I
think the Commonwealth of Virginia has the bottom of the ACC pretty well locked up.
I think they're clear, clear cut though, two worst teams in the
conference. And as far as Virginia Tech's concerned, I have coaching concerns,
and my coaching concerns are really less with like the head football coach, Bred
Prye. I have more concerns with some of the assistants. I'm just saying
a lot of position groups each week that don't really have a good handle on
assignment football, a lot of missed assignments. And I don't really think this
year. Last year it was clear to me that Virginia Tech had a lack
of talent right just they're they're pretty much getting beat man for man and a
lot of the games they played last year. This year, I don't think
they have as big a talent issue. I think that there is some still
somewhat of a talent issue in Blacksburg, but this year I'm just seeing a
lot of like it feels more like a coaching issue. It feels like a
lot of guys that are playing a bit slow and unsure of where they're supposed
to be. And I get it's it's a bit of a young team,
but I do think they should be better than they are. The first four
games they played were against teams with comparable talent, and they just got outcoached,
out schemed. They didn't look particularly good, and I think they should
based on the talent that Virginia Tech has, they should be in a better
position than one in three after week four. So I'm not sure what's going
to happen at the end of this year. I'm not sure if they're gonna
change out some of those assistants and some of those coordinators. But it's something
that if I was advising the athletic program, I would say they should probably
take a look at that because they're just not getting the job done at this
point. Fair enough, fair enough. I think that's I think that's a
good assessment. I was, you know, it's always early to talk about
this, right because I have a pull that just ended today and I'm probably
going to post it tomorrow. And I asked severals. I asked several questions.
I mean, the first one was that, you know, do you
think Tyler Bowen is going to be around be around next year? I just
wanted to get the pulse of the Hokey fan base. And three quarters of
the people said no, you know, so you know, I don't know,
you know, I don't know anything about it, but I got I
got the sense kind of like what we said that there's probably people are losing
perhaps losing some patients with at least a couple of them. And there was
I guess, you know, when when they first when probably first announced the
hires, and even when with Babcock first announced the hires, I had questions
about us getting a first time FBS coach, a first time FBS coordinator at
offense, the first time defensive coordinator. You know that's sort of FBS defensive
coordinator. Had questions about all of those, right, and at some point
sometimes it feels like it's a breeding a training ground at least the way that's
the way that's been the last couple is a couple of cycles, and I
have have I have concerns about that. Are my concerns overblown? Dan?
I don't think they're overblown. I think we've seen enough times in college football,
particularly Power five college football, that it's it's not a training ground.
It's not a place for a first time head coach and first time coordinators.
And I think if you have a first time head coach, that's fine.
There's nothing wrong with having a first time head coach, but if you do
that, you need to pair them with experience corps, as in Virginia Texts.
In Virginia text case, they paired a first time had coach with two
first time coordinators as well. I just think that that's a bad combination.
And like you can look across college football and when you get situations like that,
it normally doesn't turn out well. And I think prior like to this
day, I mean, like the results aren't there. I think he was
a good choice for Virginia Tech's head coach, but I think it was a
bad decision to pair him with first time coordinators, because at this point Virginia
Tech is very much appears to be learning on the job and trying to learn
on the job, and a Power five conference, it's it's a very very
difficult thing to get right. I'm with you one thousand percent, Jeff,
you're up, friend. What do you got for it? Yeah? Just
I mean, and I know that the polls that come out now, you
know that they a lot of people say, don't you don't have to worry
about them because of the playoff. The real polls come out later. But
I always think that the polls that come out now, you know, influence
perceptions later on in the season. And you know, one of my gripes
with what they put out today is is why Florida straight Florida State dropping in
the polls after winning and covering at Clemson with with an injured quarterback. I
mean, anyone watch that game. You could tell Jordan Travis, you know,
still still suffering a little bit with the sore shoulder. He wasn't quite
right. You go on the road with a less than hundred percent Jordan Travis,
and you find a way to win at Clemson, still a formidable place
to play at even if Clemson's not who who they were and you drop in
the polls. That's my gripe. I don't think I make any sense whatsoever.
I know, Ohio State, which which was the culprit here as they
showed them as the team that that hopped over Florida State and both of the
polls. I mean, it was a good win at Notre Dame, don't
get me wrong, but if you I mean, you watch the game and
you know that Notre Dame let that get away from them. So I'm not
saying, O, how State it's not a five, top five team,
but Florida State has, you know, arguably two of the best wins in
college football. They beat LSU, who some people couldn't actually consider might be
the best team in the SEC. You know, we don't know about Georgia
yet. They don't play anyone for two and a half months, so we
won't know about them until until maybe when they play Tennessee or the SEC championship
game. You know, but they they you know, I don't know when
I saw that game, Florida State steam rolled LSU in that fourth quarter,
and you know, if you're really putting these rhythm rankings together by resume,
they should probably be in the top two with Texas, who has that win
over Alabama. Like I said, Georgia doesn't play any one. Michigan goes
a good couple of months without playing a single team with a pulse, and
if you look at their schedule, you know they're they're ranked. Let me
pull up their schedule here, their ranked number two in the country with with
this, uh, you know, juggernaut of an opening schedule of East Carolina,
UNLV, Bowling Green and Rutgers, and you know they're juggernaut of a
schedule you know, continues until deep into November with Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana,
Michigan State, and Purdue before they go on the road to you know,
Penn State. So I mean it must be nice to to go,
you know, two and a half months into a season prepping for a game
at Penn State in the middle of November. So I mean, that's that's
my gripe. There's no reason that Florida State should have dropped in the poll.
There's no reason to have Michigan as a number two team in in the
country if we're based in this on resume and the same with same with Georgia,
you know, number one team in the in the country, and and
I'm not faulting, they've been the best team in college football the last two
years. But you know, you're going off of what's happening during the course
of the season. And they're opening schedules UT Martin, Ball State, South
Carolina, and UAB and you know they're not playing anyone. Keep going here.
They play at Auburn, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Florida that we already saw
them, got routed by Utah Missouri. You know, they did beat Kansas
State, but they get that at home. So I mean, effectively,
you've got two teams in the top three that don't play anyone for two and
a half months. You know, I would just like to see these polls
based on resume rather than perceptions, rather than what they did the year before.
I don't know, we probably never get there. We got the you
know, at the end of the day, Florida State takes care of business,
they will be in the in the in the final four. They don't
have to worry about that. But it's still still kind of a gripe there.
Yeah, I'd like to see the initial rankings not come out until after
Week four. And the reason for that is just because I think the preseason
polls end up biasing the polls like throughout the rest of the year exactly.
Let's talk Let's talk about a team like Utah, right, Like Utah beat
at this point, it's a pretty good Florida team, Like definitely better than
last year, pretty good, gotta win at Baylor on the road, and
then like one against a ranked you see LA team at home, like that's
pretty good. Like that's that's a pretty good first four weeks of the season.
And right now you've got Utah ranked tenth, Like based on what they've
actually accomplished this season, I would argue Utah should be ranked higher than they
are, but they're they're at the mercy of where they were ranked preseason,
and so they're ranked tenth. I think if the initial pole came out after
this week, I think you might say Utah ranked higher. I'm glad you
brought up the tack Pac twelve, Dan, because I looked at the quarterback
I did something on the quarterbacks for the Pac twelve. I did a thread
on the quarterbacks in the Pac twelve. That was the other and I had
forgot I had mentioned earlier that was the other team that Washington was playing in
their final four. What it's the PAC twelve is really must watch TV this
year because they have so many teams that are ranked in the top twenty five
and they have I believe myself that they have eight to ten quarterbacks that could
start anywhere in the country. It's very similar to what the ACC had in
twenty sixteen. That's how deep I think QB play is in the Pac twelve.
It's just ridiculously, ridiculously good. And you know, you could see
a point where, you know, Utah and Washington, for example, is
for a spot. You know that's late enough in the year. I think
it's November is what I was looking at. Where that's that that really starts,
you know, determining who's going to be in the college football playoff when
you get there. It might even be interesting, like if Washington or to
beat Utah. You could see the Apple Cup becoming like a really significant game
and you really hope that the nation could actually see it and it wouldn't be
on the PAC twelve network. I mean, I mean, I like actually
being joking here a little bit, right, but you know, it's They're
having the best season that you could possibly possibly imagine in college football, and
their conference is going to be dead this year, and I hate that part.
The traditions of college football are going to be dead after are gonna kind
of be a little dead or after this year because the PAC twelve isn't going
to be around. Well two thoughts on that. So, first off,
I think this year, the past twelve is what the SEC has been in
previous years, Like there's that many quality teams, So it's like a last
grand stand for the PAC twelve because they look amazing in their final year in
existence. Another thing that brought me joy is like that really late at night
Colorado Colorado State game, which would be considered like a PAC twelve after dark
game. The fact that that game had ratings over eleven million viewers even though
it started after ten thirty PM on the East Coast. I mean, if
there's quality football, like East Coast viewers will tune in. It doesn't matter
if it's after ten thirty. So, and I totally agree with you,
Matthew. I think this is the year that you want to stay up late
on Saturday and watch PAC twelve after dark because there's a lot of really good
teams playing out there. I mean, I just take a look at why
when you're when we're off this call, take a look at the last four
weeks in Washington schedule book, Dan and Jeff, because it's they will if
Washington gets there or if Utah gets there, they will have earned it,
you know. So, guys, have a great week. Dan, thank
you so much for joining the All Sports Discussion ACC podcast. We love deving
you come on the show, and we love we'd love to have you come
on again during college hoops season. Dan, absolutely thanks for having me on.
Guys. It's always fun, all right, have a great week,
guys. Take care.