Speaker 1: Hello, Welcome to 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. The podcast moderator is Matthew and you can
follow him at All Sports d A c C. That's
at A L L S P O r T S d.
Speaker 2: A c C.
Speaker 1: All right, Matthew, I'm going to turn over to you
now as we wait for our guest to join us.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the All Sports Discussion ACC podcast. This is
the longest running independent ACC podcast in the United States. Jeff,
are you seeing our guest online?
Speaker 4: Here?
Speaker 5: Can our guest hear us?
Speaker 1: I do not see him online at all yet, so
he definitely would not be able to hear it.
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm thinking that this may be a it. It
could be a it could be that the podbeen app
beats to be reinstalled on his phone. It could be
that the phone needs to be turned on and off.
Speaker 5: There's just so many issues.
Speaker 3: I think you touched on it on the microphone and
all that stuff.
Speaker 5: That issue.
Speaker 3: There's so many issues at play right, as we both know,
with technical issues and all that stuff. But what a
gorgeous night here at Alexandria. I've said that before, but
I mean, I think we're hitting on the best, the
best week, honestly that you could ever dream of for football.
Do you know that you know what we're gonna do
this week? Jeff, me and my friends, We're gonna sit
outside in Alexandria. My friends have got like an outdoor porch.
I We're gonna sit outside and cook out and watch
football all day on Saturday. Oh, that's what I'm talking about,
like outside, like literally outside their backyard in there.
Speaker 5: In there they have like what do you call it?
A gazebo?
Speaker 3: I mean, can you think of a better way to
spend Saturday other than being at the game?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't think.
Speaker 1: So that's about as good as it gets other than
maybe being at one of the games.
Speaker 5: I said another being at the game. I mean, you're
you're there.
Speaker 3: I mean, but you're sitting outside. You're having some some
some burgers or some chicken or whatever. Right, maybe you're
even grilling some pizza on the grill, which I have
never done before. But they say they might do.
Speaker 5: I don't have you done that.
Speaker 1: Before, Jeff, I have not done it, but I have
heard about it, and that that sounds like that would
really work out well myself.
Speaker 2: You know, I won't be.
Speaker 1: Outside in that way, but I will be at Clemson
l s U. Yes, So I am looking forward to
that one big time. And I mean we can definitely
get into you know how big of a game that
is for for both Clemson and l s U. But
I am really looking forward to getting back to Death
Valley and seeing if Clemson really has a national UH
championship caliber team this year.
Speaker 5: Oh yes, oh yes.
Speaker 3: So I'm thinking Jeff that we may just have to
pull the plug on this one tonight.
Speaker 5: Because it isn't Oh Matt, are you.
Speaker 6: God?
Speaker 4: I mean.
Speaker 1: I was.
Speaker 4: It worked?
Speaker 5: Oh my god?
Speaker 4: That was.
Speaker 1: Like the game, it's we got there, we turn we're
turning out the lights, the game, the ball games over
and then Matt Zemik pops in.
Speaker 4: Georgiami.
Speaker 1: It was it was we were, it was done. It
was the game was over toast you know, Crystal Mario
crist Ball called the call, the final play, and then
here's Mad. We're ready, Matt, We're so happy with us.
Speaker 3: We are there, Matt, Matt, so let me give you
the introduction here. We've got a special guest here for
the previewing the Atlantic Coast Conference football and really a
look at national college football. Joining us tonight really is
a treasure for us, right a national college football blogger,
Matt Zemic. You can follow him on Twitter at Matt Zemic.
That's at m A T t z E M. He's
also a member of member of I mean, I consider
him a member of our team here at All Sports
Discussion dot com. He's been with us for so long,
and he's the editor at Trojans Wire. That's at t
r O j A n s w I r A,
which is the Gannet Corporation affiliated University of Southern California
Trojans Athletic website. It is not affiliated with the university.
Of course, they have independent.
Speaker 5: They really have. They have independent independent journalism authority over there.
Speaker 3: And he's written Matt Samak has written about college football
since two thousand and one. So, Matt, before we plug,
would you like to I should say, before before we
before we head right into football, I mean, is there
anything background that you want to give about yourself? Anything
that you want to plug anything you want to tell
about the writers at your site.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, so, I'm still obviously editing Trojans WHI are.
One new thing I'm doing is I'm writing for College
Sports Wire, also under the Gannet umbrella. So basically, when
I'm not covering USC or UCLA, I'll be writing about
national stories at College Sports Wire. So you want to
follow that. For we have about thirty close to thirty
wire sides. It might be twenty eight scattered throughout the
Power conferences. So if there's a major story not involving
one of those twenty eight teams, that's basically what College
sports Wire does because like, if there's a big Iowa
story Hawkeyes Wire, we'll write about it. If there's a
big Texas story Longhorns Wire, we'll write about it. But
for all the other schools where we don't have a
wire side, because again it's just about like twenty eight
to thirty something like that, then we'll write about it
at College Sports Wire. And of course what we do
for football, we're going to carry that into basketball and baseball.
So you want to catch me and also the other
people who write at College sports Wire. The other plug
I want to get It's not for me, it's for
you guys. You know, you do the All Sports Discussion
podcast as part of the College GRIDIRN Coast to Coast
podcast network, so you know, everybody, you need to be
following the various podcasts that are part of College Grid
around Coast to Coast. So All Sports Discussion has the
ACC lockdown for that. But there's a Service Academy podcast
called Yards and Stripes. There's a Big ten podcast, there's
a Big twelve podcast, and yeah there's my podcast, Get
Off My Pylon, focusing on West Coast college football. So
you know, hey, All Sports Discussion is part of the
College Grid on Coast to Coast family, so you definitely
want to be sure you get in on all those
great College Grid around Coast to Coast podcasts featuring All
Sports Discussion.
Speaker 3: Thank you for the plug. Reappreciated. So let's right get
right to it. Man, a topic dear near and dear
to my heart.
Speaker 6: And I'm kind of stealing a line from one of
my friends, Will Ogin, and you can follow him on
Twitter at Will's World m N and he's over at
ACC Nation, and he brought up the prospect about how
the Commonwealth Cup game actually could be a game that
features interim football coaches, and he said that early this summer,
and it kind of I kind of have stuck to
it because I think it's a very real possibility. Matt
Football is and he probably in the Commonwealth and the ACC.
What are your thoughts on What are your thoughts on
this problem?
Speaker 4: It's a legitimate possibility. I wouldn't call it a likelihood.
I would say that if things unravel in Charlottesville, Tony
Elliott could be a mid season firing. I think Brent
Prye probably makes it through the season. I mean, but
I mean if things are awful, sure he could be
a mid season firing too. But if things are kind
of okay and you know, the Hokies can at least
get to a bowl game, I don't think the hammer
drops for Brent Prye before the end of the season. Obviously,
you know this a lot better than I do, and
a lot of ACC fans know this even better than
I do. But you know, with Babcock's talking about getting
out gunned in terms of money, I'm sure that has
everyone in Blacksburg talking, So you know, I do think
that means Brent Pride maybe has a little bit longer
leash than Tony Elliott does. So if you had to
choose between the two, I think Elliott has the shorter
leash and the hotter seat. But obviously they both have
to do something notable this season to be coaching in
twenty twenty six. That's for damn sure.
Speaker 5: Very good, Jeff, your up friend.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you, Matthew. Matt Now here's one that's
near and dear to my heart. Is this the year
Georgia Tech gets to double digit wins.
Speaker 4: You know, I could just be accused of being a
homer or you know, sucking up to the to the
hosts here at All Sports, D A, c C. But
you know what, Jeff, I really do think this is
going to be a big year for Georgia Tech. And
you know, I thought I thought about this, like, you know,
do I put SMU, you know back in the ACC
Championship game? Do I do I trust Miami? And obviously
those are teams we're going to be talking about as
we continue with the show. But you know what, I
couldn't really just get there with with those two teams,
and I thought, you know, Georgia Tech's been knocking on
the door in recent seasons. And of course we all
know Brent Key gets this team up for the biggest
games on the schedule. Just as long as they avoid
tripping on the landmine, you know, they can put together
a really solid year, right Like Georgia Tech's problem is
not how it does against the big boys. Georgia Tech
gets up for those teams, and so in an ACC
which I think that, you know, Clemson's the favorite, but
after that, I think it's very fluid. I'm gonna go
for it. It's fourth and two at the fifty yard line,
I'm trailing by seven points. I'm gonna go for it.
I'm going to go for the first down, gonna go big.
And yes, Georgia Tech wins ten games this season.
Speaker 2: All right, I like it. I like that.
Speaker 1: All right, Matt, let's get into the rest of the
ACCCEN Now, starting out, which ACC team do you think
is going to take a dive that might be unexpected?
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I wouldn't call this a dive, but
for the people who follow this program, it was certainly
rated the disappointment. So I don't have Miami making the
a SEC Championship game. I don't think Miami will do
as well this year as it did last year. And
it really is a very simple thing. Not only that
Mario Cristobal has trouble getting his teams to get across
the line, but also you know, I'm not sold on
Carson Beck. I know a lot of people are excited
about him, and moreover, like I know where the excitement
comes from. Like he's played at Georgia. He's not going
to be intimidated by big time football under the lights.
He's played in so many big games, and there are
moments when he looks great, There's no question about that.
But like he has a ball security problem, he has
an interception problem. And you also you put him up
against cam Ward cam Ward, what he did last season,
It's going to be hard for Carson Beck to even
come particularly close in my mind, to what cam Ward did.
Cam Ward was special, and cam Ward rescued Crystal Ball's
rear end on several occasions last season. Like so Miami
did almost make the playoff, and it had that big
lead over Syracuse, Like Miami was that close to making
the playoff, but cam Ward is the reason Miami got
that close. I see a significant drop off from cam
Ward to Carson Beck. Now, Miami fans are gonna say,
but wait, we have a really good offensive line, fair point,
we have some really good running backs, fair point receivers.
I think that could be an issue, But you know,
the offensive line and running game, they could be really
good and that could be enough to give Carson Beck
all he needs. Maybe he just has a clean pocket
all the time, in which case, you know what, it
might not matter that he's a downgrade from cam Ward.
But last year it was cam Ward rescuing this team,
rescuing this offense on several occasions. So in my mind,
Miami has to be significantly better on offense in terms
of all eleven to get basically to where last year's
team did. And I don't see Miami being significantly better
to offset the drop off from cam Ward to Carson Beck.
So count me as a Miami skeptic, and the people
in Coral Gables can say, this is a freezing cold
take what the heck are you talking about? But I
think that Miami is going to be the disappointment in
the ACC this season.
Speaker 1: All ri, let's go to the other side of that,
Matt which ACC team do you think will be better
than everyone expects.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, so I've already gone on record as
saying Georgia Tech's gonna win ten. So I think Georgia
Tech in many ways is the answer to that question.
But I also think if giving a non Georgia Tech example,
of course, the listeners to your podcast want to get
more takes on more acc teams. I think the other
team you have to look at is Syracuse because fran
Brown is a wizard. You know, whatever he's doing, it's working.
He's really turned that ship around from Dino Babers. He's
recruiting amazingly well. What he's doing in the portal has
been remarkable. So you know, you lose Kyle McCord. But
like Fran Brown knows how to build a roster. I
am very impressed with him. I see so many good
things about him. I just think he's really sharp and
he's gonna get Syracuse to overachieve relative to preseason expectations.
Like I find it hard to not trust Fran Brown,
I find it hard to not think that Syracuse is
going to be better than the experts. Thing.
Speaker 1: All right, man, our next segment, we're gonna call this
our lightning Round got a series of questions for you
and get your take on these. So I'm gonna start
with I'm gonna do two at a time here, who's
the ACC coaches do you have on the hot seat?
Which two ACC teams do you see in the title game?
And I think you might have mentioned a little bit
of these earlier, but we'll go ahead.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we'll just retrace our ground. So obviously the two
coaches in the Commonwealth, Tony Elliott at Tony Elliott has
the hottest seat in the ACC. I think just about
everyone would agree on that, with Brent pry close behind.
And we also have to say, if this season goes
sideways in Chapel Hill, like North Carolina could say, you
know what, the circus is not worth it. So Bill
Belichick is going to be a fascinating story for so
many different reasons. But just you know, the soap opera
of the offseason means, you know what, he actually has
less of a grace period in my mind than if
the Jordan Hudson thing never existed. If that never existed,
we wouldn't be having this conversation. But he has to
be at least somewhat decent, somewhat competent this season, and
if not, we could see a one year firing and
we can just say, you know what, we experimented with this,
but no, let's go back to hiring a coach that's
not going to give us any distractions. So that's kind
of the hot seat picture in the ACC. The two
teams in the ACA title game, well, you know, Clemson
I think is the clear cut favorite in the league.
And I think Georgia Tech plays Clemson in the ACC
towle game because I just can't get there with Miami
and obviously the team that's going to feel left out,
snubbed and will be Uh. You know, I might be
eating crow on this one. But you know, SMU, I
think snuck up on people last season and that that
that's not meant to cheapen what the Mustangs did. Like
they overachieved dramatically. Rhet Lashley, you know, it looks like
the real deal as a head coach. Uh. And you
know Kevin Jennings, you know, terrific.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: You know, dual threat quarterback, A lot of ingredients there
for SMU to succeed. But now that SMU has a
target on its back, right, I think that this follow
up season, it's gonna once again, it's gonna be hard
for SMU to measure up to the same standard that
it's set last season. You know now that SMU is
going to have a target on its back. I just
don't see the Mustangs making their way through the ACC
the same way they did last season. So I think
that opens the door for Georgia Tech to get in.
People might also say, what about Louisville, what about Jeff Brom. Well,
you know, I'm a blogger and the editor at Trojans Wire,
so obviously I followed Miller Moss very closely at USC
last season. I am pulling for Miller Moss and for
that reason, like I hope Louisville does well. But you know,
if you watched USC football last season, if Miller Moss
did not get a clean pocket, there was any pressure
at all, he would flinch at some point, he'd commit
a big interception. And I know that Jeff Brom, you know,
did wonders with Jack Plummer, who was not a particularly
good quarterback two years ago, and so if he can
do well with Jack Plummer, you can certainly do well
with Milra Moss. But I think Miller Moss is at
a point where he has to prove it before I
give him that higher level of status and respect. Miller
Moss just has to he can be the big dog
throughout a whole season. He had moments at USC, but
moments aren't the same as a full season, so I
can't get there with Losoll. It's Clemson versus Georgia Tech
in the ACC title game.
Speaker 1: Oh I would I would like that. That would be
an interesting weekend at my house. Since I'm in a
Clemson family. I love I love the Tigers, but on
that day if they meet, I mean and we can
say who we're root for on this podcast.
Speaker 2: I mean, I've been rooting for Georgia.
Speaker 1: Tech that day. But that'll be interesting weekend in our household.
If I were to go to the game, we'd be
some split colors between myself and some of the some
of the family here, But I would love it, all Right, Matt,
who wins the ACC out of Georgia Tech and Clemson
that you have there?
Speaker 2: And who's your ACC coach of the year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so this is Clemson's year, right, And you know
one of the superpowers that Dabosweny has and you guys
are very familiar with this following Clemson and the ACC
as you do, and as you have over the past
several years. Dabo gets the big fish to stick around
for an extra season. You know, whether it's Trevor Lawrence
at TN whoever's like the big time player, if he's
on the fence on the NFL draft or coming back
for another year, that that key player usually stays that
that extra final year. And so like kay Klubnick, like
been there, done that, he has all the experience in
the world. This is the year for him to put
together the monster season. And like he was good last season,
but you know, was humiliated by Georgia, didn't play well
against South Carolina, like there's still room for growth. So
now like they fully know Garrett Riley's offense, like this
is the year to absolutely go nuclear. So it all
lines up for Clemson. Clemson has the elite quarterback that
you know, I'm not there, I'm not quite there with
Carson back as an elite quarterback, as I've already said.
You could say Kevin Jennings is. But again, I think
SMU is just going to get everyone's best punch in
a way that it didn't last season. And and you
put Clemson against Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship game,
you know Clemson's the better team. That's that's no insult
to Georgia Tech. I mean, obviously Georgia Tech fans would
sign on the dotted line right now for ten wins
and an appearance in Charlotte. So I don't think they'll
be insulted by me saying that Clemson's the better team
in an ACC Championship matchup. So it's Clemson's year in
terms of ACC Coach of the Year, while if Georgia
Tech does win ten games and if Georgia Tech does
get to Charlotte, Brent Key is going to be the
ACC Coach of the Year. So that has to be
my call on that one.
Speaker 1: All right, superstuff, matt Our, last two questions in thisightening round.
Who do you have is the twelve college football playoff teams?
And who do you have here in August as your
national champion?
Speaker 4: Yeah? So, you know, one of the things as I
get older, and I've been covering college football for about
you know, almost twenty five years now, I've been watching
college football for about forty five years, so that I'm
kind of giving away my age. Here as I get older,
preseason predictions lose their bite, their juiciness with each passing year,
because you know, preseason polls, to me, we shouldn't have them,
like they just poison the well. They bake in certain presumptions,
and of course those presumptions usually favor not the ACC
but the SEC and also the Big Ten. So I
just like to watch football and then you know, in
the middle to latter portions of the season formulate my opinion.
So I just want to get that down about preseason predictions,
like I don't invest nearly the energy in that that
I did maybe ten fifteen years ago. I think that,
you know, going through this college football playoff era after
the BCS, it's really soured me on preseason stuff. So
I want to just let everyone know listening on this
podcast that I'm not putting a lot of stock in
all my preseason forecasts. But if you give me the
twelve teams in the playoff, I think the SEC is
going to get four, because if only because I can't
imagine the SEC getting only three two straight years like
that would just be such a shock, and you had
so many teams landing at nine and three, I would
have to think that at least one or two of
those teams that were at nine and three will go
up to ten and two. The most likely candidate probably Alabama,
like Kaylin de Boer. I saw him in Washington, you know,
following the PAC twelve and the Big Ten as I did.
And you know, Kaylen Dubor I think is a heck
of a coach. I think he and Jalen Milroe just
had an oil and water kind of relationship. So I
would certainly think that Alabama joins Georgia and Texas in
the SEC, and then there's gonna be there's gonna be
a fourth team that arises from the chaos. I'm not
sure which one in the Big Ten. Ohio State and
Penn State definitely are going to make the playoff. And
you know what, I think Indiana gets back. I think
people are riding off Indiana. And I know that a
lot of people who've listened to this podcast, you know,
like SMU is gonna get everyone's best punch. SMU is
not going to sneak up on anybody. So why don't
you think that's gonna happen with Indiana? Fair point? Fair point?
I think with Francisco Mendoza at quarterback. I actually think
that Indiana has upgraded at quarterback from Rourke last season.
So yeah, Indiana will get everyone's best punch. But I'm
totally sold on Signetti. I'm totally sold on Mendoza. So
I think Indiana gets back to the playoff and then
once again like the SEC. I'm not sure which is
going to be the fourth team into the playoff, but
I think there will be a fourth team, just because
I don't know if the ACC can get to I
don't know if the Big Twelve is going to get
to like the Big Twelve looks like another parody festival.
And I don't think Arizona State's going to make it
just because everything went right for Arizona State last season
and you don't have Cam Skataboo back. I think that's
going to influence the offense in a negative way enough
for Arizona State to not make it. The fact that
I've already been able to see Iowa State beat Kansas
State in what's really a huge game. Give me Iowa
State as the Big Twelve champion and a representative in
the playoff. I think Notre Dame gets in as independent.
I mean Marcus Freeman just has such a good defense.
You know Riley Leonard obviously you guys follow him at
Duke in the ACC before he transferred to Notre Dame.
Riley Leonard was not a spectacular quarterback, but like he
was a good enough quarterback, and he was a good
enough quarterback because you know, Notre Dame had this elite
defense and Notre Dame didn't have to put up big
point totals to win games. I think the Irish are
similarly constructed this year. And just as long as the
quarterback takes care of the ball and can you know,
convert enough third and fives, Notre Dame should get in.
And then you know, UNLV, that game against Idaho State
over the weekend, UNLV looked very shaky. Yes it's only
week one, but gosh, that's an FCS team at home.
You should not be going down to the wire with
Idaho State. So I think it's pretty clear Boise State
is the favorite in the Mountain West and is probably
the favorite to get the group of five berth in
the playoff. So Clemson, Iowa State, Notre Dame, Boise State,
and then four from the four from the SEC and
the big ten, and that's going to be your playoff field.
Speaker 2: And who do you have, Lennon at all?
Speaker 4: Okay, I'm not going to give you a national champion
because and this is not this is not a cop
out so much as how are they going to see
the playoff? Right? Because you know, Oregon was the number
one seed, but it got a brutal draw, you know,
getting Ohio State, which was the most talented team and
ultimately the best team in the quarterfinals. So and to
my mind, picking the national champion it's a fool's Errand
because I need to see the bracket. I'm really like
it's it's a lot like the NCAA tournament, right, show
me the bracket. If you just ask me in a
in a vacuum, you know, who's the best college basketball
team in mid March on selection Sunday, I might have
one answer, But then when I look at the bracket,
I might have a different answer. So, you know, the bracket,
how these teams are arranged is going to be really
not only interesting, but I think important because you know,
when you when you reflect on the twelve team bracket
last season, you know, Notre Dame, you know, was a
number seven seed, but it had a better bracket than
Oregon the number one seed, you know, and and so
you know, also the Penn State number six seat in
Penn State and Order Dame both played in the Orange
Bowl in the semi finals. Penn State as a number
six seed, had a better draw than Oregon at the
number one seed, you know, because of Penn State drew
Boise State in the quarterfinals and Notre Dame drew Indiana,
and then it played Georgia. Now, Georgia was the SEC champion,
but you know, no one would say that Georgia was
the was really consistently the best team in the SEC. Now,
Georgia beat Texas twice, but Georgia really had an up
and down season. Notre Dame's path Indiana, Georgia was a
lot more favorable than the teams on the other side
of that bracket. Just imagine for a moment if Texas
had been in either Notre Dames or Penn State's half
of the bracket. That probably has a very different impact
on how the playoff would have been folded. So, you know,
they made the change right as the conference champions do
not get the top four seed. That's just going to
be the top four teams for best teams. I think
that's a really good and necessary change, But nevertheless, I
need to see a bracket in December before I really
get a sense of who's going to win the national championship.
The other point to make on the heels of that
is that I don't think the sport of college football
has really adjusted to this new twelve team playoff, right,
because in a twelve team playoff, you have to win
at least three, if not four games to win the
national title. That's on top of your twelve game regular
season and maybe also a conference championship game. So the
teams might have to play as many as seventeen games
to win the national title. So injuries, freshness, you know
where teams are after twelve or thirteen games, and then
how the bracket sets up. I just think it is
absolutely pointless to predict a national champion now the twelve
playoff teams. Yeah like that, getting the sense of that,
I think there's some value in that, but like I don't.
I don't even see a purpose in predicting the national
champion given that, you know, Ohio State did not have
the best regular season. In fact, Ohio State's regular season
just the twelve games Ohio State played, not the four
playoff wins, but just the twelve games Ohio State played.
The buck Guys were a major disappointment, you know, losing
twice with all that talent, losing that game to Michigan
at home. The buck Guys were a major disappointment. But
of course that large twelve team playoff field gives like
a quote unquote disappointing ten and two team a chance
to still make the field and hit the reset button.
That's exactly what Ohio State did. So see, that's another
reason why I'm just gonna wait to predict the national
championship in December. Right now, it's really just about the
chase for the playoff and teams getting the most out
of their potential. You know, it's a lot like baseball
in the sense that you know, in the nineteen sixties,
you know, through nineteen sixty eight, had the regular season
and then you go right to the World Series. Now
you have all these playoff rounds and like there really
is a there's a big brick wall, a big barrier
between how you play in the regular season and how
you play in the postseason. In baseball, didn't used to exist, right,
but now it's really two different sports. There's April through
September and then there's October. College football has become like
that with the twelve team playoff. It's how there's on
one hand, how you play September through Thanksgiving and the
first weekend of December, and then there's how you play
in December and January. Two different situations, two different dynamics.
So let's just get through the first part, the first act,
through the regular season, and then when we get a
bracket on the College Football Playoff selection day, then we
can make a real informed guests at who will be
the national champion?
Speaker 1: All right, very good, matt Matthew, I'm gonna turned over
to you, Knew over to you for our last segment
in the podcast.
Speaker 3: Open microphone, Mattie, what do you got for us?
Speaker 4: Okay? Two things. One is, you know, you know, there's uh.
There have been some rulings on you know, players seeking
an extra year of eligibility, and one of them was
at USC alignment named DJ Wingfield. He entered the transfer portal,
he was at Purdue. He entered the transfer portal, so
he commits to USC, but then he's ruled ineligible by
a judge you know, you don't get this extra year
of eligibility. And the word on the street is that
the NCAA House settlement was so vague and unspecific that
judges across the country are rendering different rulings on players
getting an extra year of eligibility from JUCO or other
specific situations. Like there's no consistency from one jurisdiction to another,
from one state to another on whether players you know
from the JUCO ranks or in other specific situations can
or can't get an extra year of eligibility. So one
obvious problem with this is why do we have the inconsistency?
But here's the thing that's I don't think getting talked
about nearly enough in all of this. Like people are
aware that you know, okay, you live in West Virginia,
the judge might give a favorable ruling there, but then
you go to California, the judge won't give a favorable
ruling on eligibility. Everyone sees, everyone knows about that, Like
that's very clear cut. But the thing that people aren't
talking about nearly as much is this, why was DJ
Wingfield and why would any other player be allowed to
enter the transfer portal if there were questions about his
eligibility for that coming year, right, it just only makes
sense if the courts haven't cleared a player for eligibility,
that player shouldn't be allowed to enter the transfer portal.
Not in the sense that player's movement or freedom should
be restricted. That's not the point of emphasis. This is
very precise here. I'm in favor of players having the
freedom of movement and freedom to do what they want.
But it's just that the court's ruling for eligibility should
come first, and then once the player is cleared, then
he can enter the portal. Because just stop and consider this.
If a player is in the transfer portal like that
is basically a national global communication. I am available to
be acquired by my new school. I am a free
ads all right. That's the transfer portal. It's the it's
the open marketplace for college athletes to move to other programs.
So if a player is allowed to go to the
transfer portal, the underlying message being sent is this player
is available for another school to acquire. So to have
that happened first, and then for a for a judge
a court to rule on that player's eligibility it's backwards.
So like that is definitely a procedural thing that college
sports and the NCAA need to get squared away. You
have to get the eligibility ruling first. Because USC thought
DJ Winfield was going to add to this year's team,
he would be able to play for this season and
be an important part of the USC offensive line. People
might say, oh, you work at Troden's wire. Of course
you're going to be upset about this. But this would
apply to anyone Like a UCLA receiver had the same thing.
He transferred, but he and then and only after he
transferred to UCLA was he not allowed to play for
an extra season. So this would apply to any athlete
who enters the portal, goes to his new school, and
then gets an unfavorable eligibility ruling. For any of these athletes,
the eligibility ruling needs to come first, because then a
prospective new school doesn't have to get that player only
then to you know, not get him eligible. You know,
USC thought it had this player and then the court
step in and they say no. So we should at
least have a situation where the courts are making rulings.
Then the player gets cleared and then the player is
allowed to enter the transfer portal. So that's one thing
in this open microphone session. Here's the other thing I
mentioned a short while ago. You know, college football, I
don't think structurally in terms of leadership, in terms of
the organization of its season has adjusted to the realities
of the twelve team playoff. The biggest problem just in
terms of scheduling, not anything else, just scheduling. I'm not
talking about nil, not talking about television, really just scheduling.
The conference championship game is not nearly as important or
as useful now in the twelve team playoff era. And
we really need to stop and realize this. You know,
Penn State and Oregon played in the Big Ten championship
game last season, so Oregon played an extra game that
really did not have a whole lot of value, you know,
because Oregon won that game, and as a reward for
winning that game, Oregon got Ohio State in the quarterfinals,
the absolute worst possible draw it could have hoped for. So,
you know, and meanwhile, while Oregon was playing that Big
Ten championship game, Ohio State got a week to rest
and prepare for its playoff, you know, so getting the
week of rest is something that Oregon should have benefited from,
not Ohio State. And it should have been Ohio State
as the team which failed to make the Big Ten
championship game, it failed to win its conference. You know,
Ohio State should have been penalized in some extra way.
Ohio State should have had a harder tougher road than
Oregon did. But no, Ohio State was sitting back on
its recliner getting the extra week of rest, you know,
to be able to regroup. So like that is just
backwards and so what the conferences need to do, especially
the Power Forward, but really any other conference as well.
If a team is clearly the best team in its conference,
Like if a team like Oregon last season finishes all
alone in first place in that conference, that team should
not play a conference championship game, right, it doesn't have
to play that extra game. It goes straight into the playoff.
There's no injury risk because it's not playing that thirteenth game.
And you know, we talk about you know, a team
might have to win or a team might have to
play as many as seventeen games to win the national title.
So if you're number one Oregon last season, you don't
want to play that extra game, and frankly, you don't
deserve to have to play a conference championship game. You're
safely in the playoff, you're safely one of the higher seeds.
You should not be forced to play that game. Let's
translate this to this season and the ACC. Let's say
Clemson is a dominant team, number two, number three in
the country, finishes all alone in first in the AC seed.
Clemson shouldn't be made to play the ACC championship game.
Clemson should just be able to go right to the quarterfinals,
get rest, get that advantage, not have to play a
thirteenth game right after game number twelve against South Carolina.
The thirteenth game for Clemson should be the playoff quarterfinal.
I think people need to stop and realize that the
scheduling structure has not really adjusted to the twelve team playoff.
In the conference championship game is the foremost embodiment of
that reality.
Speaker 3: Guys very Well said Matt very Well said, Jeff, you're up.
Do you still have thoughts in seven and five Iowa
taking on Clebson and Death Valley.
Speaker 1: I do have a thought on the one ACC team
we saw this weekend, Stanford I know Matt's a West
Coast guy. I think michaeh Ford has already taken calls
for which school is he's going to transfer at the
end of the season. If if you're looking at Stanford
this weekend, the quarterback, I hope it pronounces pl Ranson.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 1: He was the second best quarterback and in the two
team the two teams with Hawaii, and Hawaii's quarterback was injured, yes,
and he was limping.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Stanford's gonna have a new quarter starting quarterback by
game three.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: He literally cost them the game as Stanford was basically
about to put Hawaii out, you know, put the game
out of reach. He makes an absolutely unbelievably poor decision
with a pickoff while Stanford is inside the Hawaii thirty.
Speaker 2: They end up losing the game.
Speaker 1: And yeah, that that looks like if I'm if I
had to say right now, who I thought was gonna
be the worst team in the a c C.
Speaker 2: It's it's it's Stanford right now.
Speaker 3: Uh uh.
Speaker 1: And Saturday, they looked they looked. They didn't look poorly coached.
I'll say I think Reich as a head coach, you know,
the schemes looked Okay, it was it that they were
poorly coached, but there is no athleticism almost anywhere on
that team, very few positions, the running back forward. I
think there's a little bit of a running game that
might keep them in some games. But who, you know,
it's tough to say, like, you know, it's a bad
loss for the conference when it's probably the worst team
in the league. But with the strength of scheduled component
going to be so heavyly.
Speaker 2: Used now this.
Speaker 1: Year in the playoff, you know, playing Stanford might almost
hurt your schedule. You're gonna have to like really completely
blow them out.
Speaker 2: Especially.
Speaker 1: I think this is a team that could very well
go one in ten or two and or one and eleven,
two and ten. Yeah, Stanford, I think it's be a
long season.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So I wrote about this at College Sports Wire
that Stanford just might be the worst Power for Conference
team in twenty twenty five. And you think about Purdue.
Purdue might be bad that year, but Barry Odom is
the new coach there, Barry Odom, who did a terrific
job at UNLV. I think that, you know, early in
the season, Purdue is going to be awful. But I
think by November. Purdue actually might be better. Mississippi State's
probably gonna be the worst team in the SEC. But
it's going to be hard for Mississippi State to have
a worse quarterback than what Stanford had. You consider other
teams that might be really bad this year, like Northwestern
go down the list. It's just going to be hard
to have lower the bar below where Stanford put it.
You know, I know you guys followed national college football
as well as the ACC including football in the Pacific Northwest,
and you might remember that Ben Gobranson used to quarterback
at Oregon State and like when he put the ball
in the air, it was a disaster for the Beavers.
He just needed to hand the ball off. And so,
you know, he was awful when I saw him at
Oregon State a couple of years years ago. It's clear
that he hasn't improved. And I just got to ask
Andrew Luck, the you know, the general manager at Stanford,
and he's the guy in charge of the program. You know,
in a lot of places, the head coach is in charge
and the general manager or athletic director or you know
are kind of you know serving the head coach, like
Nick Saban was the guy running Alabama football, not the
athletic director. But at Stanford it's Andrew Luck running that program.
It's not Frank Reich. And so Andrew Luck allowed Ben
Golbranson to transfer into Stanford, Like what was he thinking?
How could Andrew Luck think that Ben Golbranson was anything
close to an answer at quarterback? Like if I think
a bad quarterback wants to transfer to my school, I'm
gonna say, we thank you for your interest. But like
our quarterback room is good, Like we're okay, or at least,
you know, we think we have our own answers within
the program, like you know, like there's nothing saying that
Andrew Luck had to say yes to Ben Gobranson. So
that that's something that Stanford fans should be upset about
because that was just horrible quarterbacking. And Frank Reich, you know,
he made Nick Foles or you know, and Carson Wentz
into quality NFL quarterbacks, like he did a great job
with the Eagles, you know, winning the Super Bowl under
head coach Doug Peterson several years ago. Frank Wright and
you know, Frank Wright did really well with the Colts
before that tenure lost team like Frank Reich is a
really smart offensive coach X and O guy. But you know,
there's only so much a gifted play caller can do.
You know, if the quarterback's terrible, the coach is not
going to be able to rescue that. So yeah, I
think I do think that a quarterback changed as in
the cards for the cardinal, But one wonders how much
good that will be able to do. That was certainly
very discouraging to lose, not just against Hawaii, but to
lose against Hawaii with an injured quarterback. That was a
very bad look for Stanford, no question.
Speaker 3: I mean it kind of reminds me of the moves
that Virginia Tech made when Pente was coached, you know,
with the qv room.
Speaker 7: Matt, Well, hey, you don't need to be sorry about
it's more pain than it is for me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yep. They had Hendon Hooker and what happened with that? Yep?
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3: Okay, Okay, So here we go, mad by open microphone.
Who's winning the FCS title? This is a softball, I guess.
Speaker 4: North Dakota State.
Speaker 5: This is a good pick. This is a good pick.
Speaker 4: Matt. Thank you, like like you know you're going to
be close to the target if you're not going to
actually hit the targe.
Speaker 5: That's right, that's right, Matt.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for joining us this Sunday evening
on the All Sports Discussion ACC podcast. We really appreciate
you coming on the show and we look forward to
you coming on in December.
Speaker 4: Thank you. And I just want to say before I go,
you want to follow the All Sports Discussion Podcast as
part of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network.
You can catch that at Apple, you can go to Spreaker, Spotify,
the other places where you listen for your podcast. Follow
All Sports Discussion throughout the season for the best in
ACC football coverage.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for the plug, Matt. We appreciate it. It's
we've made it, guys. This is the way football begins.
Take care every great week.
Speaker 4: Thank you.