Speaker 1: Hello, welcome to you this week in the Atlantic Coast Conference,
the podcast for All Sportsdiscussion dot com. This is Jeff
and you can follow me on Twitter or x at
talkin' a c C Sports. That's at t A l
k I N A c C S p O r
t S. Your podcast moderator is Matthew and you can
follow him on Twitter or x at All Sports d
A c C. That's at A L L S p
O r T S d A c C. I'm going
to turn it over to Matthew now as he introduces
our guest, and we're all ready to speak.
Speaker 2: Matthew, Hey, Tim, can you hear us?
Speaker 3: I can hear y'all. Yeah, I think we've lost Matthew
for a second. Then can you hear me?
Speaker 2: Uh, We're good to.
Speaker 4: Go, man, Yeah, can you hear?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 4: Wonderful, wonderful. Sorry, sorry about that. We have a great
return guest here on the podcast tonight. This is the
All Sports Discussion ACC podcast, the longest running independent ACC
podcast in the United States, and our return guest is Tim.
Tim Thomas. You can follow him on Twitter. I'm still
gonna call it Twitter, I'm never gonna call it x
at at Tim Thomas t LP at Tim Thomas t LP.
He's the owner and operator of tech Lunchpale dot com
and you can follow their site account at at tech
lunch payl d. That's at t e c a h
l U n c h P A A p a
I l D again. I'll do that again here at
t e c h l U n c h p
a I l D again. His personal Twitter account is
at Tim Thomas t l P. Thank you so much
for joining us tonight.
Speaker 3: Tim.
Speaker 4: We really appreciate you coming on the All Sports Discussion
ACC podcast, spending your Sunday.
Speaker 3: Night with us.
Speaker 4: This is a it's always a treat when you come
and come on the show, and it's it's it's just awesome,
awesome that you're here with us. So, before we start,
is there anything that you'd like to tell tell our
listeners about your anything you'd like to tell our listeners
about here, our listeners about here?
Speaker 2: You buy yourself?
Speaker 4: The floor is yours, friend.
Speaker 3: I appreciate it, guys. It is great to always be
on shoot. I think this has got to be like
my eighth or ninth appearance at least at this point.
Over the past decade, you has been instrumental from the
start of the Tech Lunch Bill, which I'm the editor
and owner of the Tech Lunch Bail. You go check
it out tech lunch bail dot com. If you're a
tech fan, acc fan, love our work, go become a
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We've really grown a lot over the years and with
the reason why we can continue to grow and be
on site at every college at every Virginia Tech football game,
as one of only three outlets who did that last year,
which included crossing the country once. It's because of your support.
So we've been around for just over a decade now
it's become a decent one of the biggest independent websites
out there covering Virginia Tech on the ground, asking the
hard questions, getting the insights you want. I'm an engineer,
full time civil engineer. My degree from Virginia Tech is
in civil engineering that I got back in twenty eighteen,
and I've been fortunate they get there do this side
as well, and also see plenty of great young writing
talent come up, young media talent come up. And if
you're a tech fan, you may listen or read to
some of the talent that we've been fortunate enough to
have had come through our ranks, including David my good
friend David Cunningham. We're a tech sideline, Evan Hughes, the
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many more who've gotten to come through our ranks over
the years. I've got a great team right now with
Tucker Terry and Josh puzzle Leslie puzz Leslie who have
done a great job as well providing excellent content. So,
like I said, like Matthew said, Tim Thomas TLP on
Twitter x whatever you want to call it, or tech
lunch beld for our site Twitter guys, it's great to
be on you know. I tell you I was concerned
with Virginia Tech. We'd mostly be talking about whenever Virginia
Tech came up the coaching search for what is a
lost season now, But you know, miracles happen. I guess they.
Speaker 4: Sure do, they sure do it?
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 4: Tell me you're also you've also been You're also on
some radio stations occasionally across the state too, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, i'llcasually be on some stuff like ESPN Richmond and
some other stations I'm actually in Richmond for my remote
job that I do full time, funny enough to for
an office visit tomorrow. So in the in the beautiful
state capital of the commonwealthy Virginia right now this evening.
So but yeah, I'll do some stuff like ESP and
Rischman occasionally and things like that, depending on depending on
the season, and depending on what's going on.
Speaker 4: All right, all right, so let's get right to the
ACC football week that was right? Who was the most
disappointing ACC football team in Week five? And give us
the flip answer? Who is your most impressive ACC football team?
Speaker 2: The floor?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean this, there's a broad section of schools
who can fall in either category here. Let's start. Let's
start with the positives. Let's let's check off the positive.
How about Duke. We're gonna there's gonna be a lot
of teams out of think on this positive category. But
how about Duke that you know, I thought I thought
really highly of Duke entering the season. They had that
rough game against Illinois where the margin was wider than
the game was. They lose at Tulane. You're wondering a
little bit what's going on here? And they've they figured
it out. I mean, Syracuse is not the same without
Steve Anjelly, which I think they're a negative. I mean
they get whooped by thirty five at home. I don't
care that you just lost your quarterback, Like, come on,
do something, do something more than that. But I think
Duke's legitimately a very good, very town and football team.
Darien mensa man. He looks the part, He looks the part,
and he is going to probably be an All acc
probably not first team because that's probably Carson Becker Haines King,
but I don't know he's have they paid him four million,
If that's accurate, then I think they're getting their money's
worth with what he's given them. That's a good team.
That is a good team, and I think it's they're
gonna be, you know, the two and zero in the
ACC now. And if you look could Duke's schedule ahead.
We may get into this more later talking about the
league race as a whole. At cal Georgia Tech, at Clemson,
at Yukon and non conference than UVA at North Carolina
Wake Forest, it's not the easiest sleep, but it's it's manageable.
They go, you know, only lose one responsible they could
only lose one of those games. I think they'll probably
lose more than that, but they can take two or
three of Georgia Tech, Clemson, Uva and then go cross
win at CAW. I mean, Duke could be a is
in the hunt for Charlotte and they have the talent
to do it. So I think, you know, under the
radar a little bit given some of the bigger storylines,
but I think Duke deserves some credit wake Forest, you know,
the off sides penalty aside disappointing to lose that game,
but I think this is an encouraging side. I think
Jake Dicker it's a heck of a coach. It's a
tough situation right now, but he's a heck of a coach.
That team's gonna be feisty all year. But we have
to go to the headline. Well, there'll be a couple
of other teams we'll get on, but we have to
go to the head line of the University of Virginia Cavaliers. Man,
it is funny that, uh we got a teclum. We
got a couple of Teclum's on on the week where
UVA football is as bad as it's been since Bryce
Perkins and maybe maybe even longer. That's a good football team.
That's a good football team. Chandler Morris is a good quarterback.
He was very good in North Texas last year. I
think people forget Chandler Morris was going to be the
starter at TCU before he got hurt the year Max
Duggan and Sunny Dice went to the National Championship. He's
a talented player, and I think that's showing. The running
back Jamari Taylor's pretty good. They got some receivers, they
they got some players there, and to beat what I
think is a is a legitimately talented and good Florida
state that may have been maybe isn't a top ten team,
but is a top twenty five team for sure. What
what a what a win that is for UVA. What
a scene that was on the field with you know,
the sea, if U manny would have been nice, if
maybe they could have sloped, give a tack a couple
more seconds, you know, for players to get out of
the way a little bit. Though, unique situation over time,
all of that, but I tell you, I mean that game.
I mean they are so close to being five and
oh right now, a huge game at Louisville. We will
get into that shortly huge game in Louisville if they
somehow win that game, I tell you they guess they
gotta go cross country to Cow. Yes, they got to
go to Duke still, but UVA is very live in
the ACC Championship.
Speaker 2: Brees.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't pick them to play be playing Miami and
Charlotte today, but uv A is very live in this thing.
And I can't say I saw that coming at the
beginning of the season. I thought they could get the
six to seven wins. Give them the schedule. But Chandler
Morris is good, Jamari Taylor is good. They have a
host of running backs. They got some guys on defense too.
But this is an offense that is very good. The
receivers Harris and Ross, I mean and earning all those
guys like this is a good offense. This is a
good football team. Yuv is gonna win seven or eight games.
I mean, at least that seems like the floor at
this point. They are legit. They are there for real.
They're gonna be a force for a while. And then
Louisville deserves credit for their comeback. That's a good football team.
We'll get We'll probably talk more about UVA Louis Will
that be a good time to talk more about them.
But that was a good comeback on the road at
a pit team that is better I think people realize.
But it may not be a great team, but it's
better than people realize. But got to talk about the
game I was at last night as well. Virginia Tech. Guys,
I'm gonna be honest. I told someone pregame when I
was we were talking about the eight and a half
line in favor of n Z State. It's like, if
you if you didn't live in the Commonwealth of Virginia,
that would be one of the bets of the week,
the bet on NC State. I mean, this was a
dead in the water Virginia Tech. Just a couple of
weeks ago. They make the coaching change you had to
make because that team had quit. You see several players
leave or decide the red shirt, and now they rallied.
Terry On Stewart being healthy is huge for that team.
They wanted him. He was their number one target at
running back in terms of portal guys, and he's showing
why that. Man. I mean, the eighty five yard run
was the most impressive, but he had several runs of
ten plus yesterday one when they got the running game,
actually decided to use the running game. Because they didn't
use it early on, they pretty much always passed. Once
they actually started using it, things changed for Tech in
that game. Stuart's a force. He's healthy, he is a
bowling ball. He's probably a little more athletic version of
Steven People's or Sam Rogers. I mean, the guy's a force.
He's a little more agile, little little more speed. He's
a dude. And the linebacker play Caleb Spencer and the
true freshman Noah Chambers. I don't think I've ever seen
a true freshman make his debut in a conference game
and have three tackles on his first three career defensive
plays in college football. That's pretty good. That's pretty good.
They might have the Low Garrazzo Award winner and John
Love at kicker, but this team just fought. This team
showed up, and yeah, I think Tech's gotta be one
of the most impressive NC State falls. On the other
side of this, though, I don't know what happened to
the team that beat UVA and was three and zero,
was like, Okay, this is something's going on good here.
But they lost to a good d team, but nonetheless
lost last week. Lose to this the Dave Dorn conversation
has to begin. I don't know if I'm there to fire,
and yet let's see how this playoffs. Because Dorn has
had a very good tenure at NC State. But I
think anyone said people saying that it might be getting
stale after what happened, the disappointment last year and now
what we've seen this year, I think that's a fair argument.
I think that's a fair case. There is a case
I wonder a little bit. I think some NC State
people have speculated this, like they've invested a lot into
Will Wade. Are they in a position to make a
move in a football coach right now? I'm not so sure,
but the state we're in, they might need to. So
I think it's interesting situation with NC State. I will
say CJ. Bailey is a very good quarterback. So there's
a lot of positives in the league. This week. Florida
State's got to be a disappointment. You know, Top ten
lose on the road at Uva. But Uva, even with
Uva being decent, kind of stalls your momentum and now
puts you going to Miami where you're kind of in
a must win if you want to get to Charlotte. Now,
if you don't win that game, Florida State could still
get to the College Football Playoff. I think if they
don't beat Miami next week, they pretty much they have
to win out, but they could still stack up good
wins at Clemson at Florida that would be that would
help them build out their resume around what they did
against Alabama Week one. But Florida's I think, is a
little teetering or is definitely teetering in the ACC race
because I don't think you're gonna get there the Charlotte
with two losses, or at least you do not want
to be in that spot this early on Syracuse obviously
used by thirty five at home. I don't care your
quarterback just went down. I mean, that's just embarrassing. Stanford's
a mess. I can't say I'm disappointed by Stanford because
Santa Steate State is probably a better football team than them,
so beating them is something so good for them, even
though they did beat Boston College early this year. Somehow
col has got to be a positive. I didn't mention
them earlier, but Justin Wilcox may be coaching his way
off the hot seat as well. He was the hottest
Sea coming the season, and he's coaches way off the
hot seat. Credit to him. They got that freshman quarterback,
he got a couple home games coming up. I mean,
Cow's going to be comfortably favored against Bill Belichick in
North Carolina. They should get to a there's a good
chance they got North Carolina and Stanford still to play.
There's a good chance to get at least six and
get to a bowl game. My view, that should be
enough to say Wilcox's job for another year. They might
with Duke have in across country UVASMU, maybe they can
get one of those as well. Maybe they come across
the country and beat Virginia Tech. Good work for Justin Wilcox.
So a very interesting week across the league.
Speaker 4: Well said teammate. Heck of a recap, Jeff, you're up bread.
Speaker 1: All right, Tim, let's look ahead to next week with
ACC football game games are you looking forward to in
Week six?
Speaker 3: Well, I think we have to start with Miami at
Florida State. I mean this if it wasn't for UVA
up saying that this might have been the biggest Florida
State Miami game in a long long time. It's still
one of the biggest. I don't know why College Game
Day is not in Tallahassee. Alabama Vanderbilt is exciting, but
I don't know why they are not in Tallahassee. Miami
is a legitimate national title contender right now. Carson Beck
looks great, the defense as much improved for them. Mark
Fletcher was a very productive running back for a while
and now is gain to be the guy. CJ. Daniels
kind of got lost in the shuffle a little bit LSU,
but he was really good at Liberty previously, and I
think it's showing a little bit. This is a really
good Miami team. This is a really, really good one.
And I think for all to talk about Crystal Ball
and not getting over the hump after ND last year,
like the thing is my Oregon played for three straight
conference titles. I can't remember what the record was in
them when Chrystal Ball was there prior to leaving for Miami.
Like Christa, Ball knows how to get talent and he
knows how to build up a winner, and right now
we're seeing that. I think this year we are seeing
that more and more. Like this defense, he made a
very good higher defensive coordinator this offseason. Obviously, Shannon Dawson
is a guy who's going to be linked with a
whole lot of openings. But for Florida State, this is
a big moment. Now you lose at Uva. If you
want to get the Charlotte, you have to win this game.
And this is a good this team is capable of
doing that. This is a good football team, and you're
playing at home. This is a big moment for Florida
State and if you want to make the playoff. I mean,
here's the thing. If they win this game, you have
wins over Miami and Alabama. You could probably lose one
miss the ACC Championship and at ten and two, partly
your helped a little bit. I have the name Florida State,
but with Uva being respectable, lu say had a Clemson
team that could easily rally and finish at eight and
four to nine and three top twenty five teen. Like
even with the mess they've been so far, I mean,
Florida State could still get to the playoff. I think
This is a crucial moment for them too, for the
ACC and their playoff hopest. But I am very this
is obviously the game of the week in the league.
It's a very exciting game. And yeah, I mean, if
you look at Florida State, you win this game tonight,
you got Pitt or this game. Next weekend you have
Pitt Stanford on the road, which doesn't really matter. Wake
Forest at Clemson, Virginia Tech at NC State. That's very doable.
That's very doable to win that, and then at Florida
at the end of the year. They could win all them,
especially if Clemson continues to just be a dumpster fire
and just a mess. I mean, if Clemson can figure
it out, they have the talent of a top five
team in America. There's a reason why I picked them
preseason being a national title to win the national championship.
And I am puzzled and befuddled by the mess of
Clemson this year. But if Clemson continues to be a mess,
they'll be favored in all of them. They may be
favored all of them anyway, But win this game against Miami,
you can get the Charlotte and you can go to
Charlotte knowing you're going to be in a college football
playoff and you're playing with house money that go win
a conference championship and maybe get a bye. That's the
type of spot Florida State still is in. While Miami,
on the other hand, once again also everything is there.
I mean, this is a moment to send a message.
They beat Florida convincingly, they beat Notre Dame week one.
You win this game, I mean this could twelve is
in play, thirteen and oh is in play for Miami.
You win on the road. You got Louisville. That's gonna
be a tough test, but you do get a bye
before you play Louisville on a Friday night at home.
Then you have Stanford at SMU, Syracuse, NC State at
Virginia Tech at Pitt. I mean, as you could be tricky.
We've seen it before with Miami going to Pitt and
Pitt being a thorn in their side for some reason
when they go up there in late November. But that
is such a manageable schedule. These next couple games are
crucial mostly for position at this point because Notre Dame's South,
USF and Florida are all solid wins their their playoff
spot looks very strong. They take care of bes at
Florida State, Miami will see you guys in the playoffs,
at worst hosting a first round game, and you're in
Miami's rightly in the driver's seat in the ACC. I
think Miami wins that game, but I could see that
game going either way. And then the other game I
think you have to talk about out is Uva at Louisville.
I don't think. I don't think I had that pencil
preseason as a significant ACC game. But here we are
Louisville obviously a huge two game stretch here home against Uva,
which has just gained so much more intrigue. And then
at Miami they can go one to one, which I
think they will go one to one. And then you
have Boston College averaging Contech, cal Cal Clemson at home
at SMU and SEBU team I think is pretty good
still but maybe isn't what they were last year. And
then of course Kentucky they could win out that's manageable,
and even they slip up once a ten and two
team with some of those wins, it gets interesting. With
the playoff, I think they'd be left out in that scenario.
But eleven and ones in play for Louisville, and I
think this is a really good football team. I think
Miller Moss is the most talented quarterback that that Jeff
Bram has had. I think we're starting the see or
at least maybe the highest ceiling. Hasn't been the best
start necessarily, but Isaac Brown, we know, is a home
run thread at running back. They got the receivers with
Bell and Lacy. They got some players on defense too.
You know Clev Louvin's three and a half sacks. He
was really good at Coastal Carolina. There's a reason why
a whole lot of people wanted him and looked. He's
looking the part early on. So but Uva, on the
other hand, we talked about earlier. With their schedule, it
sets up you go win this game at Louisville. I
mean they'll be favored the rest of the way, most
likely at Duke's the toughest game left at Cal maybe
just because you got to go all the way across
the country and that freshman quarterback is good, but you'll
have a ton of tape at that point on a
true freshman quarterback. I mean they win this game at Louisville.
Could the University of Virginia be eleven and one or
ten and two even I don't think they will be.
I think they'll probably be like eight h four because
I think they're good, but not that good. But this
is a big moment.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 3: If you go from winning at Florida State, winning over
Florida State to winning at Louisville the next week, I
think we have I think we need to have a
serious conversation about UVA, even more serious about UVAS as
not only an ACC contender, but maybe the shocker of
the year to make the college football Playoff, which, by
the way, I think should send some chills down the
spine of those down in Blacksburg that your rival is
positioning itself in football right now much better this season,
in a moment where we're trending towards a big potential
shift and schism that you want to be on the
right side of. So, I mean, this is a big game,
and it's crazy to say that about UVA. I don't
think it's going to happen. And I think Louisville wins
this game, and I think UVA is like an eight
and four team but it's there for them. It's there
for both of these teams. A run at the ace
the championship is very much there. And I do want
to mention Duke at Cow because guess what these two
teams are both undefeeing the ACC so far Cal one
to oh Duke two and zero. Winner of this game.
I mean, Duke's got like I said, Georgia Tech clumbs
in Virginia, but it's their live in the AEC if
they win this game this Cow. On the other side,
the toughest team they play is probably Louisville or at
Louisville or Virginia coming across the country or SMU coming
to their place too. Duke's got to come to their place.
Their road games are Louisville, Virginia Tech, and Stanford. Like
I said, this game, they're hosting Duke. I mean Cal
wins this game. They're two to zero in the league play,
they get a bye, then they have North Carolina Virginia Tech.
That's gonna be you know, the cross country parts gonna
be tricky for them. But Cal could bee him the
hunt in the ACC well into November as well, So
it's I don't think. I think They're gonna be slip
ups for both teams, especially Cow. But this Duke Col
game is is going to be a very interesting late
night game. And also for Duke, you know, you just
played at Syracuse. Now you got to go back to
Durham then go cross the country. A good thing they
won thirty three, maybe, but that's a lot of travel
and that is a very unfavorable schedule for Duke, and
Cal's decent. That might be the upset watch there. Cal
is the underdog at home. I don't know if they
should be the underdog. So that's gonna be a very
interesting game.
Speaker 1: All right, Tim, awesome look at the week six games
that you're looking forward to.
Speaker 2: But let's take.
Speaker 1: Another look here a week six here the ACC.
Speaker 2: Which ACC team do you think could be on upset
alert if they're looking ahead to a game on their
schedule or otherwise just sleep walking on the on the field.
Speaker 3: Well, I think that Cal Duke game is one of them.
Florida State at home, obviously a home underdog against Miami.
I don't think Miami's gonna be looking ahead or sleepwalking,
but Florida stay at home. That's that's you know, there's
definitely upset potential there. Uva is an underdog, but could
there be that kind of hangover effect from a big
win and it just not be nearly as competitive as
the Vegas would think possible. Duke having across go all
the way across the country after a long trip to Syracuse,
that against a col team that has some momentum after
winning against Boston College and that game being so late
at ten thirty, that's a dicey one too. And then
I also I do think Pitt. I think Boston College
is very game right now. They're gonna start, They're gonna
get someone. They could get Pitt. If Pitt's not careful here.
Lanigan's very intriguing. They showed a pulse with the running
game this past week. Boston College could be dangerous here
against Pitt, especially Pitt Tough, you know, blowing a late
lead against Louisville. I will say I think Clemson is
gonna just beat the crap out of North Carolina. That
UNC team Cleary is not very good. And the Bill
Belichick Dablos Sweeney game is you know, a ESPN is
probably a great ragne despite the fact that it doesn't
really mean much at this point to any relevance of
this college football season. But you know, television means that
games on ESPN instead of ACC Network, where it probably
should be. But regardless, Clemson's gonna stop him. I don't
imagine that they won't. I don't care the games in
Chapel Hill, Like look ahead the basketball season. North Carolina. Uh,
Bill Belichick's got a lot of work to do, and
who knows if it's even you know, it's tiring. A
guy who's won as many Super Bowls as he has
sounds great, great in press headlines, but you know, hiring
a seventy three year old who is dating a twenty
four year old and has got those those kind of
questions about his you know, morality to be frank to
an extent and on both directions and distractions in addition
to being you know, potentially well passed his coaching prime
as well learning a new game the coach. Yeah, that
just seems like a mess. I don't know what we're
doing here, and it's right now showing to be a mess.
We'll see, maybe they're brilliant, but right now they got
some questions. So no, North Carolina won't be on upset Watch,
but Pittsburgh Duke Miami all feel like teams I think
are the most most prone here.
Speaker 1: All right, tim, let's go national here, we'll step out
of the ACC for a bid. Which national FBS game
are you looking forward to the most in Week six?
And we're wide open with this question. This can be
Power four, G five. You can even have an FCS
matchup and then give us the winner of that game
or two that you're looking at outside of the ACC.
Speaker 3: Well, I think Alabama Vanderbilt has been testing just because
if Vanderbilt can, if Vanderbilt can bowl us off again
and go in the tuscle looser this time to do
it one, all the good will for Kaitlin de Bor
goes right back out the window, and a repeat of
last year. Though I think Kylen de Bor is a
heck of a ball coach. But secondly, all of a sudden,
Vanderbilt six to oher with LSU Mazoo coming coming home,
Auburn and Kentucky at home, two Texas and tenn Site
the only games of the row like they might have
a chance, even at like ten and two, which by
the way, gets him in the playoff, they might. And
even if they go nine in three, you have a
win in Alabama. Among those, I think we might be
talking about playoff team Vanderbilt even we might have a
chance to be talking about that. And for Alabama, obviously,
this is you gotta build on this or you got
to build on it. You gotta build what you did
against Georgia this time instead of stumbling. So I think
that is a obviously a big game I've been picking out.
I'd pick Alabama. I think I think Vanderbilt is a
great story. They're a good team. They've improved from last year,
but they're not that level. I think I think that's
going to catch up there. And I tell you this,
I look in some of the other games, Texas Tech
at Houston, Battle of vun beatings, but I don't think
Houston is that could But I tell you this, Texas
Tech's gonna be fascinating to watch them right now. The
money they spent is looking well spent in their GM.
I can't remember their GM's name, but he is proving
to be They paid him, Notre Dame, wanted him, and
they kept him. That man is one of the one
of the best front office people in college football today,
one of the best personnel people in college football. They
have an edge because of it, in addition to Cody
Campbell pumping him bid jillion dollars into that program too,
So I think that's a very interesting spot. I think
also you look at Texas A and M hosting Mississippi.
Mississippi State team is very live. You know, A and M.
They're in the playoff race. I picked them preseason. The
schedule sets up favorably for them to get the ten
and two. You get some interesting lower top twenty five
or outside they jump in. I think A and M
is very A and M I think will take care
of business in that game, and it'll be interesting to see.
I think they are very live for the playoff too,
so there's some interest game. Not a crazy week. I
will say, you get a little further down the kind
of the chasm here, and it's there aren't as many
like G five games necessarily at least this week though,
I will say Delaware got it. You gotta shout out
the Blue Hens. They're three to one in their first
season as an FBS team, hosting Western Kentucky this week.
I mean they're one to zero in conference right now.
Liberty does not look very good. That league is wide
open out. I mean Western Kentucky. Kentucky's probably the favorite,
pretty clear. Louisante's been a surprise too, but could Delaware
being here the top of the league for most of
the year. The big moment for Delaware at home against
Western Kentucky if they could win that one. So an
underrated Friday night game. That'll be a fun one over
in Newark, Delaware.
Speaker 1: Right, very very good tim Because we have our last
two segments here in the podcast. We've got two open
mic segments, and this next one is just for you.
So whatever you have on your mind, you know, it
can be Virginia Tech, it could be somewhere else in
the ACC around the country. Go forward here on our
guest open mic segment.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think one of the big storylines. I think
one of the interesting things to watch this week is
in Blacksburg. You know, for those out not in the
Virginia Tech world as deeply major Board of Visitors meeting
was called after funding questions were raised about a month ago.
There is a proposal that's been circulating around that will
be presented. It will infuse fifty million dollars this year
into Virginia Tech and then obviously so their budget will
be athletic budget will be next year over two hundred
million dollars will be one hundred and ninety million, about
one hundred and ninety two million or so, up from
about fifty million from one forty two what it was
supposed to be this year. I think I've talked to
some people around if Virginia Tech realizes they are you know,
if there is this schism in twenty thirty of the
top thirty ish schools, they may not be in it.
And there is a potential risk that goes beyond just
you know, missing the schism in football, but the economic
impact on the region, the academic impact it could even
have to an extent on you know, Virginia Tech's ambitions
as an academic institution, a growing student body. You don't
have to be comfortable with that or not, but that's
just the reality. You know. There's some people that are
rise that Virginia Tech, you know, that would some of
the money proposed is not together yet. It shouldn't be
a shock. This proposal is a month old and they're
proposing one hundred and twenty million of the two hundred
twenty nine million dollars to come from donors. It takes
a minute to fundraise that, and they got some work
to do to deliver that. I think this this could
be a massive statement to the coaching market that Virginia
Tech is very serious and very serious about infusing cash.
And if they can make it clear to coaches that
this money will be delivered, they will and to agents,
they will improve their job. The type of candidate that
they will be able to pull into this program will
be raised. If they can make clear they can deliver
on becoming a budget that matches Florida State, in Clemson
in the ACC and his top twenty top twenty or
so overall among all programs. This is a big moment
for Virginia Tech. And I think, you know, if you
don't have all that money, I think what they need
to make players, Hey, if we don't have all that
donor money just yet, we're gonna take some debt because
the Seth Lake department that's ran in the green for
a while, and I think you have to take some
risks sometime. They have to show that whether donor mine
iSER or not, they are willing to make it creative
to make sure the money is there and let donors
figure it out as it comes. They got to show
the money, and this is a big moment, but this
is a step. The next step will be after Green.
This is showing to agents, hey, proof that they can
actually deliver the money, whether you you know, I don't
want to be the one that's you know, poop poo
on the parade here, but let's this is a step.
This is not the end game. You know, if you
want to somehow convince John Summroll that, hey, he shouldn't
just wait for an SEC job to offer him, you
got to have that money ready to go, or if
you want Matt Campbell somehow to leave Iowa State. I
don't think even with the money there, those guys would
necessarily jump in Virginia Tech. But it maybe opens that
door a little bit, and obviously it you know, helps
with the There's like the Alex Golishes who are gonna
be talked about a ton, the Dan Mullins and so
many more who will end up being linked with this job.
So big week for Virginia Tech. And you know, there's
some good vibes in Blacksburg after Saturday night for a
program that you know, honestly, it's a lost season all
there's lots of noise, but all the noise is not
is around who the next coaches, who the funding is
gonna be, who's gonna be the GM. None of it's
around the locker room. And I think this is gonna
be a strange It's gonna be a strange scene in
Blacksburg because I think they're gonna be Tech fans that
gonna be disappointed in the big picture they have to
watch a three and nine football team. But I think
we'll enjoy this season in a weird way too, So
it's gonna get a little wacky. But this is a
big week for the future of Virginia Tech and that's
something to definitely monitor. And guys, I don't think we've
planned this podcast to be around this vote for me
to jump on here, but talk about a nice coincidence.
Speaker 4: Absolutely absolutely open microphone number two.
Speaker 2: What do you got for a sim.
Speaker 3: Well, I think I want to say something a little
bit as well as we look at the race, the
college football playoff race, but let's talk about the ap
pole and some of the complaints. I'm fed up with
some of these complaints. I'm fed up with some of this, Like, yes,
some there's some voters who don't do the work, but
so many of them do, and so many of these
people are traveling the country covering these games with vehicles
with whatever their newspaper or organization will provide. Most of
these people aren't national reporters. They're beat reporters. They're not
reporters flying on private jets or having big salaries. You know,
I work along the side playing them. I weren't running
bump shoulders with them. I think some of these people
who can have been some of the loudest complaints. There
are people who I think do great job coming to sport,
like the Josh Pats and others, but I'm fed up
with the incessant complaints about it. Is it imperfect, Yes,
but guess what, it's still pretty dark good if you
look historically a lot like last year. I think eight
of the top twelve teams in the preseason Top twenty
five actually made the playoff in the preseason ap Top
twenty five. And oh, don't even look at the Coach's Bowl.
That's even a bigger mess. If you want to complain
about something of the Coaches Bowl. But the Coaches Bowl
is completely irrelevant at this point. I mean it's you know,
it's thrown together. It's a mess. It probably shouldn't exist
at this point. I don't think it's really accurate. So
I'm fed up with this. These the constant complaining, the moaning,
the whining. It just needs to stop. Sure, you complain
a little bit. It's fun, but just needs to stop.
Like these people and anyone who says, oh, do these
people actually care about college football? This is not an
if you don't care about college sports and college football,
you know, the salary is not an appealing part of
that industry, y'all. I work as an engineer full time.
It's the salaries of helps appeal to it too. I
would love to do it full time, but the salary
may never get to that point compared to what I
can make otherwise, you know, or employ someone to run
the site eventually and be the over CEO one day.
Maybe the point is the disrespect needs to stop a
little bit. On some of this front. I will say this,
I think they got it right with a lot of
it too. I think Indiana being in the top ten
makes sense. I think Texas Tech it's fun to see
some of these teams that are rising up, Georgia Tech.
I don't know why Louisville is and then there yet,
though I think Louisville is a very good team. They
beat Uva. They should absolutely be in that top twenty five,
and we need to talk about Louisville as a playoff team. Still,
that team should have been the top twenty five at
the start of the season, and then we've just forgotten
about them. That's a good football team. Jeff Brown, by
the way, has done a great job. I was I
thought Jeff brom was overrated when he was at Purdue.
I'm wrong, he's underrated. He's done a great job of
that program. But it's time to stop complaining with the
AP poll. That's just come on. It's actually pretty good
when we think about it. The reality is it's actually
pretty good. You know, Illinois staying in the top twenty five,
by the way, after just a really bad weekend in Indiana.
They weren't a top ten team, but the correction was made,
and you know, that's a great example of them getting
it right. You know. But hey, also, this is college football.
It's pretty hard to predict sometimes. That's why we love
college sports. They're not the pros. They're more inconsistent. The
floors and the ceilings are wider, it's gonna be more chaotic.
It's hard to get these rankings right, and especially as
we get deeper in the season, it's complicated, it's tricky.
Let's give a little grace here, and yeah, let's give
a little grace. Let's stop some of the whining in
the morning about these reporters who go across the country
and especially now the flights. Are the travels not getting better?
And yes they get in the free all that. You know, great,
you know, but it's still a job as well. But
it's not an easy job. And I give my colleagues a
lot of credit for that. For those who do a
full time I love it. I enjoy it, but I
am more flexibiler than others. Paths nailed it.
Speaker 4: Tim nailed it.
Speaker 3: Jeff, you're up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was awesome. Tim, and I wanted to kind
of touch on a related point to that. I think
the college football playoff selection, I think this year is
going to make last year's. You know, there was controversy
last year, but I think this year it's going to
make last year look like a perfectly clean selection. So
because you know, with with the with the nil and
the portal. You know, the margin the differences between teams
is so razor thin than what we had like ten,
you know, eight ten years ago. You know, I look
at the top twenty five and you think about comparing
these teams to the Clemson and Alabama teams of the
of the mid twenty tens and even onto you know LSU.
You know, I take those those teams I think would
have absolutely destroyed any of the teams in the top
five this year. But all of that is saying is
I think you've brought in you know, during that decade,
you might have had three, maybe up to five teams
in a year that really had a legit chance to
win the national championship. I mean, and I look at
the top fifteen this year and I see, you know,
maybe eleven or twelve teams in the top fifteen now
that I think could win it. And I think anybody
in the top twenty five currently is capable of winning
a game in the in the CFP. I think when
we have that selection, I think if you're a three
loss team, I don't care what conference you're from. If
you're a three loss team, you're done. I don't think
you'll have any chance whatsoever to make the playoffs as
a three loss team. Last year, I think you had
a couple teams that were on that border. I don't
even think you're going to be in the picture if
you lose three times because just because of some of
the things you alluded to, Tim, I think there's going
to be a ton of teams sitting at ten and
two and eleven and one that the CFP committee is
going to have to, you know, go through those resumes
and try to separate those teams out. And I think
teams teams that have scheduled up, that have won games
out of conference, that have you know, road wins that
may be scheduled you know, P four games neutral side
or on the road, or or or scheduled tough, I
think are going to be given a lot of credit.
Speaker 2: I mean, you look at Ohio State.
Speaker 1: I think that win over Texas is going to resonate
all year long, and I think they're gonna be given
a lot of credit for that. I think Miami, you know,
you always talk about, you know, can a ACC team
move up? I mean they're ranked number three in the
country and they scheduled Notre Dame Florida and still put
South Florida on the schedule. That is very good and
that you know what you talked about before. I think
the winner of the Miami Florida State game is going.
Speaker 2: To the playoff, no doubt about it. The winner of
that game.
Speaker 1: And even with Florida State having a loss, because I
think what you said before, you know, you have a
win over Alabama plus Miami, I think you can afford
a loss another loss somewhere.
Speaker 2: Along the along the way.
Speaker 1: Neither that assuments you beat Florida, which you know, I
think Florida is going to have a really rough season,
but that's still gonna count as an out of conference win.
Speaker 2: And I think that's.
Speaker 1: On the road is as as well. So I'm I'm
looking for as wide open of playoff that that we've
that we've ever seen. And I thought last year was great.
I think even more teams are in the picture. I mean,
just for the last month you said, you've seen people
just go all over like, oh, look at that, look
at that schedule. That team's going eleven and one, that
team's going ten and two, and and you know you
look at it and say, well that might be possible,
but that mean, it brings so many teams into the picture,
and I really hope, you know, when it comes down
to it, I really hope they don't change them.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is I think they got it right. Honestly.
Speaker 1: You know, you have four Power four champions making the field.
You know, none of this AQ bid nonsense that the
and then the field is small and not still small
enough that you've got to win a lot of games.
I mean, you start expanding it out to twenty or
twenty four, I mean, then you're looking at teams that
have three four losses and it's like, you know, at
that point, what are you doing. I really think that
it's right the way it is, and I hope it stays.
Speaker 2: That way.
Speaker 1: But the difference between the number one team in the
country and number twenty five is probably as narrow as
I can remember it. And I'm not saying, you know
who's ranked number twenty five right now? You got Arizona
State in Utah in one pole, and I don't think
they're going to, you know, win the national championship or
anything like that. But I mean, you can't tell me
either one of those two teams can't pop can't you know,
maybe win a game in the playoffs, and I think
that that they can. So this is just going to
be I think fantastic for the next next couple months.
So we'll blow it all up in a year or two.
But I'm going to enjoy the rest of this the
rest of this.
Speaker 4: Year, Well said Jeff, Well said Jeff, So Tim and
Jeff keep your eye on South Dakota State at Youngstown State.
I don't have the guts to pull the trigger, but
that game might be a little closer than everybody thinks.
Youngstown State seems like they're a little peskier than they
have been and have been for it have been in
a few years, and it could be it could be
an interesting FCS game to keep keep a watch on. Tim,
thank you so much for joining the Elseworths Discussion ACC podcast.
We loved having you come on the show and we
would love to have you come back on the show
again sometime. Anything you want to plug on the site
before you go, who Who's any features you got.
Speaker 3: On the site, gentlemen, I appreciate We're gonna have plenty
of great stuff recapping text stunning went over enc he
stayed along with continuing to cover this coaching search and
all that, and the best way it's gonna be be
an insider seven dollars a month or seventy dollars a
year to be a TLP insider, to get all the coverage,
all the dive into the potential coaching candidates, all the
coverage of this football team and what happens, how will
this season play out? So much more basketball season on
the horizon as well, with a lot up with some
excitement about men's basketball, and Napolis have Dallas, a name
that a lot of people are going to likely get
to know this year. A Greek standout coming over to
the United States, considered a like a top twenty level
NBA draft prospect, the most talented freshman since at least
Nikhil Alexander Walker to arrive in Blacksburg. So a very
interesting road ahead. Best way to be a TLP insider, And.
Speaker 4: I will say this with myself. Tim has the best
Virginia Tech Athletics blog out there that's of course not
affiliated with the university. It's an independent site. It's the
best one out there, the most widely read from Virginia
Techa Athletics, the most widely read independent blog. And Tim,
thank you so much for spending your Sunday night with us.
You guys have a great week, Appreciate it.