Speaker 1: Hello, Welcome to this week in the Atlantic Coast Conference,
the podcast for All Sports Discussion dot Com. This is
Jeff and you can follow me on Twitter X whatever
they're calling these days at Talking 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 on X at
All Sports d A c C. That's at A L
L S P O R T S D A c
C and that's also our site X account for All
Sportsdiscussion dot com. I'm gonna turn it over to Matthew
now as we start the podcast.
Speaker 2: Man, how you doing? Jeff?
Speaker 1: All right, all right, how are you doing.
Speaker 2: I'm a little tired. I got about twelve miles of
steps in today. I'm here into Ottawa. This is the
longest running independent ACC podcast in the country and it's
coming to you today, as I said, from Ottawa, Ontario,
in Canada, and I am blessed to be here on
a little vacation. I've enjoyed some time walking through the city,
checking out some of the city's markets. Tomorrow and tomorrow's
Thanksgiving in Canada, and I'm going to make sure I
have a post on the site about that because I
always wish our Canadian readers a happy Thanksgiving. And Thanksgiving
is tomorrow in Canada, and so tomorrow and then Tuesday,
it's supposed to be a little rainy here, so I
may check out some of the museums tomorrow. That's a
good thing to check check out here in Canada's capital,
capital city. But it's a perhaps a little a little
sleepier town when the legislator lasuer And in the Parliament
here is out of session. So it's kind of kind
of quiet here and that probably obviously we obviously the
way it should be on Thanksgiving here up in Canada.
But restaurants are still open, so it's a good place
to get rest, I guess this week. So and that
kind of brings us to an interesting question here. And again,
this is the longest running independent acc podcast in the country.
Jeff and I have been this on well over five
hundred episodes, I mean quite a bit. We may be
in about five twenty if I'm not mistaken, but if not,
we're pretty close. And that kind of brings up an
interesting question on my part, and I kind of want
to ask this in two parts. Jeff because having been
up here now, I know that the kid that you know,
I'm familiar enough with Canada, I know that they that
they embrace American sports. I mean, this is a hockey
loving country first of course, up here in ice hockey
loving country. But you know, lately they've been really embracing
American sports. I mean, I think some say that lacrosse
is kind of born up here, and they play a
more challenging version of lacrosse for the goal as much smaller.
It's called box lacrosse. You see a lot of ACC
schools actually recruiting Canadian lacrosse box lacrosse players because they
have such precision shots. And then of course you saw
that this year that Canada beat the United States and
the Olympics in men's basketball. Right, so they are adopting,
they are adopting American sports. And I'm wondering what you
would think about the ACC having a preseason game north
of the border in Canada. And I bring that up, Jeff,
in part because I think it can grow the sport
at first a you know, bring you know, bring a
lot of I think it can bring a lot of
a lot. It probably can bring some revenue to the
ACC for to having a game north of the border,
and I think it. You know, here's the part that
I heard a lot of ACC fans talk about where
you know, perhaps it's too prohibitively expensive to fly out
of the country, but a lot of people can drive
to Toronto, for example. But having it at the having
it at the a preseason game, perhaps at the CFL's
Great Great Site winner, that might be Great Cup winner,
that's the championship game in the Canadian Football League. Perhaps
you haven't in Toronto or Montreal or you know, whoever
wins the Great Gap, but it's generally in one of
those bigger market cities. I'm just wondering what you thought,
what you think of having a potential preseason or not
a preseason but you know, like an ACC game, I
should say, a regular season game at a neutral site
in Canada.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think it's that it's a bad idea
at all. I'm not sure if you you know, want
to make it an annual thing, but I think it's
the kind of game you can set up, you know,
very early in the season. And I think you know,
what you saw out of Florida State and Georgia Tech
in their Ireland game this year. I mean it was
really well received Game Day was there. It drew massive ratings,
and so I think if you were to do something
like that, it would make sense to you know, not
do it in the week one, but do it in
that week zero where there's only like a handful of games,
you know, and you you know, alternated in different locations.
I mean, there have been other conferences that have talked
about playing in Mexico, and so I do I'm not
sure why Canada doesn't come up more often as a
potential site. I think anything that puts the ACC in
an exclusive television window is a good thing. And you know,
having something in Canada especially, I mean I think you
have to kind of gauge the local fan interest in
such a game. I think what's successful been so successful
about the game in Ireland is they end up drawing
a lot of local interest for that game and it
does very well. So I mean, you put it in
a location like Vancouver or for our West Coast friends,
or Montreal or Toronto or someplace like that, and I
think it could definitely gain some interest.
Speaker 2: I for one, would love to I would go up
there in a second. Jeff you, of course, you know,
I bias. I've been up here several times. I grew
up in a border state, right, so I've been up
here several times, and I think it's perhaps more you know,
for some you know, I mean, the flip side of this,
of course, is that it takes away a home game
from somebody, right, that's the flip side, right, because nobody
wants to lose a home game at their home stadium.
But on the other side of the coin, it's perhaps
you know, more affordable for people to draw I've rather
than fly across the country. But you're right, you know,
I like your idea about the week zero approach. I
think that's a really good idea, and I think it
would fit. I think people could, you know, like i've,
you know, people I've and people have learned this and
probably researched this. But you can get by in Toronto
or Montreal without without without without a vehicle, you can,
I mean. And that's the great thing about great thing
about having a U a game and a location like that,
because their state, their stadiums are like right on the subway.
Because that my sense is that you'd be playing here
in Toronto, of course, you'd be playing at the University
of Toronto's football stadium, or you'd be playing at the
University of Montrealis football stadium. You would be playing at
one of those locations. Or yeah, I guess you could
play at the Argonauts Stadium, right the the Toronto Argonauts
or the Montreal Alots. You could play at the CFL
stadiums too, I mean, either of those places. But there
are facilities there that they that you could use if
you you know, if we think it's those sorts of things,
if you're on the East coast, like you said, Jeff,
or if you're playing if you're playing out on the
West coast. But it's something I really think the ACC
should at least consider put it, putting it in the rotation.
I think I would love to see something like that.
So let's go on here, Jeff. I mean we're Week seven.
Wats of candidates here, Jeff, who was the most disappointing
team in the ACC in Week seven?
Speaker 1: You know, I think there's a couple of you know,
obvious candidates for most disappointing team, But there's another team
I actually was kind of disappointed in because I think
they really missed an opportunity to you know, kind of
have their season take off a little bit. And you know,
I'm going to put Virginia out there as my disappointing team.
I mean, there were other teams that played worse. You know,
NC State losing at home, pretty listless in that game,
you know, played worse, Uh North Carolina, you know, defensively,
another debacle for them against Georgia Tech giving up over
three hundred and fifty yards rushing. Those teams played worse.
But I've really felt like Virginia had an opportunity with
Louisville coming to town to kind of pick up a
really credible win, get the five and one on the season,
and really could start thinking about, you know, get into
a bowl game, you know, maybe sneaking up on people
and at least being on the radar screen of acc contention.
And I thought Louisville coming in off a couple of
losses in a row, Notre Dame and s MU, you know,
I thought there was an opportunity there for Virginia to
kind of take advantage of the situation. Primetime No, sorry
that game wasn't in primetime, but you know, a game
that they had at home, and they they were in
that game, and then a couple of mistakes early in
the second half, you know, has them trail in seventeen
to seven early in the in the second half, and
they never could quite make enough plays to get all
the way back in it. And you know, Louisville wins
the game twenty four to twenty. And I just felt like,
especially with Clemson for Virginia coming up next week, you know,
and you know, we've seen this year in college football,
anything can happen, but you don't expect to go into
Death Valley this year, with the way the Tigers have
played the last five games, had come out of there
with a win. You know, I just felt like Virginia
let a golden opportunity slip away against a credible wrin,
a credible team that really could have, you know, put
them on the map for this season. So Virginia, you know,
not because they played the war or you know, had
the most disappointing performance, but given the opportunity that they
had in front of him, I feel like they let
one get away.
Speaker 2: So Jeff, I mean, and I'm gonna scot I'm I'm
gonna sound like this that sounds like a Commonwealth narrative then, right,
because I feel like Virginia Tech let a couple games
slip away Vanderbilt by not being as aggressive as they
were against Miami. Jeff, would you think do you think
if Virginia Tech was passing and playing the way it
did against Miami, it would have beat Vanderbilt. I'm actually
being dead serious when I say that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I really, I really think they, you know, would
have done that. You know, they fell behind in that
Vanderbilt game. What was it, seventeen to zero? You know,
before you know, everyone knew what was going on. And
then they they basically outplayed Vanderbilt through the entirety of
the rest of the game, took the lead, and then
had a kind of a defensive breakdown late in the
game and it put him in overtime. I mean they
probably outplayed, they played outplayed Vanderbilt, you know, just about
the entire second half of that game. And you know,
when they took the lead, I thought they were gonna win.
And yeah, and I'm going to think we all admit Vanderbilt,
you know pretty good right.
Speaker 2: Now people think absolutely, Jeff, But.
Speaker 1: But it was still one that I think Virginia Tech
definitely let get away.
Speaker 2: I'm yeah, I mean, I'm not gonna let off my
criticism on where was that play calling in the first half?
Why did you sit in wait five? Why did you
just sit and do five yard out five yard pass
outs to the line of scrimmage and nothing down the field?
Down the field? And it's you know, and I thought
you brought a really good point about Virginia. I mean,
they had an opportunity to say, Okay, we're making strides
in the program. There's no setback, do you know what
I mean? Sort of thing, because I see a lot
of similarities of where you think there's a setback and
you think both programs are going forward, then something else happens,
you know what I mean. I mean it's this, I
see a lot of the same sorts of similarities there.
And so I thought you brought up a really good,
good point, Jeff. There, So let's let's close that out.
Let's go on the other side and talk about something
positive here. Which ACC team do you think was most
impressive last week? And I'll just say very very first.
I mean Syracuse I think is going to deserve some contention. No,
let me back up here, because I've been away. Did
Syracuse get into the top twenty five today.
Speaker 1: Jeff, No, No, they didn't, right, should they have got in?
Speaker 2: Jeff?
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not sure if I'm quite there yet.
I think they should have been closer than what they were.
If I'm going back and look at it, they were
still like thirty or thirty first. Let me see here, Yeah,
if you look here at the I'm looking at the
ap pole and they're thirty third behind Texas Tech and
just and tied with Arkansas ahead of Utah. I mean,
so that's still quite a few teams between the top
twenty five and where Syracuse is, you know, And when
I look at the top twenty five, you know, I'm wondering, like, well,
who would I replace with Syracuse? And there's a couple
candidates here. But then I started looking at, you know,
some of the other teams here that are between Syracuse
in the top twenty five, you know, and you know,
I'm wondering a little bit about you know, you know,
Syric Oklahoma here. You know, Vanderbilt for that as good
as that great win over Alabama was, I mean, they
also lost to to Georgia State. You know, why why
couldn't you put Syracuse. Who you know does have they
also they had a top twenty five win over U
N l V. I definitely think they should be at
least three or four spots higher. They at worst, they
should be on the fringe of the top twenty five
and not in the you know, barely getting votes category.
Speaker 2: Fair enough, fair enough, I was. I was pretty impressied.
I mean, it is you know what I have to say.
It is pretty cool that we have two service team
service schools in the top twenty five, Army and Navy.
That's pretty That is pretty fucking cool, isn't it. I
just say I haven't done that much. I haven't done
that on this podcast. Sorry, it's the first time I
think I've done that on an episode ever. That is
really cool.
Speaker 1: That is really cool. Let's enjoy it as long until
as long as we can until Tony Petiti and you know,
Greg Sankey make sure that no one outside of the
Big ten and SEC is allowed to be in the
top twenty five. So I think that's super cool.
Speaker 2: Okay, So who else? Do who else? Give us another
impressive performance this week?
Speaker 1: Jeff definitely agree with you. On Syracuse. They did what
good teams do against mediocre teams even on the road Syracuse.
It was twenty four to seventeen was a final score,
but I mean it was not as close as the
score indicated. On that game. Syracuse was in complete control
of that game. I mean, they looked like the better
team from the get go, and that's a quality football
team you don't want to be playing Syracuse. They're really dangerous.
They getting could quarterback play out of Kyle McCord. And
you know, like we said, you know that that's a
team that if they're not on the top twenty five,
they really should be on the fringes and not as
far down as they are. But they're off to a
five and one start. I was pretty impressed with them.
The other team that I was really impressed by was
pitt moving to six and oh they didn't play fantastic
against Cal. But if you've seen Cal play this year,
you know that's a pretty solid team. And pitt did
not have their best game against Cal for the first
time this year. The offense and holsting the quarterback really
kind of sputtered and the suspect part of Pittsburgh where
you were kind of thinking, you know, how high is
their ceiling was on the defensive side of the ball.
Their defense really rose to the occasion against Cal. They
made just enough plays to keep Col's team, you know,
in check offensively when you only score seventeen and you're
still able to win the game because you hold the
other one to fifteen. I know, Cal, mister foyil go
late in the game, but still it was that defense
for Pittsburgh that that helped them, you know, nots that
victory and we know the offense can score. They're not
going to have that many games where they struggle, we know,
and we know Col's defense is really pretty good, especially
in the secondary. They force a lot of turnovers. That
defense of Pitt's starts catching up with their offense, and
you know, that's a team that's an absolute factor the
rest of the way in acc So to see pitt
you know, beat a pretty decent Cal team without their
best game on the side of the ball that people
have been questioning all year. I think Pittsburgh is a
team that's that's maturing as the season goes forward, and
you know, they are in the top twenty five as
they should be, and I think they should be you know,
two or three spots higher than where they are at
number twenty, But I was pretty impressed with Pittsburgh definitely differently.
Speaker 2: Can I just say though, I mean, Brent Key found
a way to win yesterday, So shout out to him
for finding a way to win. I mean a lot
of people were kind of pissed at him that he
you know, maybe he wasn't you know, was good. Throw
the North Carolina game down, the showers, rain, but he
he found a way to get his guys to win.
Speaker 1: Jeff, Yeah, I mean, you know, Georgia Tech takes a
ten point lead in the fourth quarter and then Haines
King goes out with an injury, and it really left
Georgia Tech searching for, you know, ways to move the ball.
And I really felt like if that game had gone
to overtime, Georgia Tech's probably not winning that game. And
Jamal Haines puts a fantastic run together, a sixty eight
yard run to win the game.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: With with with what what was going on with Haines King,
you know it s already said he missed a fourth quarter,
but he was laboring during the course of that game.
I think he got injured in the first quarter, you know,
hurt that shoulder a little bit. He was definitely not,
you know, playing his best, and Georgia Tech kind of
turned things over to their running game against North Carolina
and just dominated on the ground in that game. So
I think Georgia Tech fans probably can question some of
the things Brent Key did late in the game, but
you know, adjusting to the Haynes King injury and adjusting
on that offensive side of the ball and still coming
out with a win against a dangerous North Carolina team
who's struggling, but who who you know, made plays in
that game and had Georgia Tech really you know, on
their heels and and that one, you know, to come
out of Chapel Hill with a win, get to five
and two on the on the cusp of a bowl, hey,
you never, it's never a bad win. And then that
was that was a good win for Brent Key to
come out of there with a victory.
Speaker 2: All right, man, let's go up to the next week here,
Week eight A. What are you looking forward to the
most this week?
Speaker 1: Jeff uh Yeah, I think there are some really intriguing
games in the ACC this this week. Miami going to Louisville.
I think that's an extremely dangerous game for for Miami.
We've seen their last two games out ye and you know,
Miami is basically two controversial calls away from being on
a two game losing streak and their defense is not
playing well. There's no other way you can say it.
I mean teams. Virginia Tech was the first to really
expose them defensively by being so physical with them. They
went to California, and California you know, went through three
and a good three quarters of football, dropped thirty five
on them and move the ball with ease on them.
Louisville is just as capable on offense as either one
of those teams. And on the road, if Miami's defense
doesn't come off the bye week playing better defense, that
they can definitely lose that that environment too.
Speaker 2: I mean, Louisville's can be packed for that game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, And we've seen Louisville you know at home.
Can has played some incredible football over the year, and
now they're coming off that Virginia win kind of righted
the ship after the Notre Dame and SMU's loss. That
game is very intriguing.
Speaker 2: I think Boston College it's the second best time slot
of the.
Speaker 1: Day, Yeah, ABC National TV for that one. I'm looking
forward to Boston College and Virginia Tech. I think you're
starting to see Virginia Tech play well, starting to become
the team, uh that many felt like they would be
at the beginning of the year. This is this is
a game where they could really start turning the corner
against a decent Boston College team who lost the last
time out against Virginia a couple of weeks ago. But
we know with with Costianos at quarterback and what they
can do with their offensive line. I mean, that's that's
that's kind of a bull pecking order type game. Maybe
not of teams that are gonna, you know, get to Charlotte,
but we're talking about, you know, two teams that that
could be in the upper echelon of the a CC.
The winner of that game on Thursday night kind of
a throwback vintage Virginia Tech Lane Stadium Thursday night game.
Looking forward to that, and then also Florida State and Duke.
I want to see how Duke. You know, they got
off to the five and zero start, lost to Georgia
Tech last week. You know, where are they at? How
did the bye week help them? And can they you know,
basically finish off Florida State season. I mean it's already
down to drain. Let's be honest at Tallahassee this this year.
But you know, can they just basically, you know, take
it even further down the drain than it already is
and you know, have Duke in a position where they
can really still contend, be in a position to contend
in the ACC. They just have the one loss to
Georgia Tech. So you know, those are the games that
I'm kind of looking forward to in the ACC. Clemson
hosting Virginia I'm looking forward to that to just see
if Clemson can continue their rock solid play over the
last few weeks. And I kind of think they will,
so I.
Speaker 2: Can tell you what, I'm kind of looking forward to
jet But we're a little bit here, right because I mean,
like I never I don't want to say, I mean,
you're right to a degree that Virginia Tech seems like
it's turned around, but Stanford really isn't that great, And
I don't know that that's necessarily a measuring stick. Boston
college mate has had has had basically had a bye
week to get ready. I mean, you know, both teams
have been a lot of time, but Boston, you know,
you give an NFL coach a bye week to prepare
for a Virginia Tech. I mean, if I'm you know,
I guess we're gonna go to the latter part of
the question about an upset question because I see the
Hookies are favored by seven. I wouldn't be shot shocked
to see the Hokies lose that game, Jeff, because I
think the coaching you give an NFL coach a bye
week to prepare sort of thing for the Hoky for
the Hokies, and you know it, can you know it?
It's that's a very ify game for Virginia Tech. And
I think you hit it right that it's important for
both teams ball hopes. That's you know, So that's that's
That's one that I would be looking at for an upset,
for an upset if I had to pick one. The
other thing I'm just interested in, Jeff, and I don't
want to selld like I'm having fun or having just
for the Twitter comments alone, is to watch NC State
go out to California, because that is that is that
I mean, if Dave, if Dave loses that game, Jeff,
what do you think the NC State fan base is
going to be like on Twitter?
Speaker 1: I think it's it's going to get kind of ugly
for Dave Doring. I think his hot seat status has
kind of fallen off the radar of the last few years,
but it never all the way went away because he's
still never got that signature out of conference win. He
kept quite a falling short of the ten win seasons,
so he had pretty much established NC State as a
solid program, but never had that kind of magical season
that nc Stink fans kept waiting for. And now the
bottom has kind of fallen out this year. I mean,
they're a bad football team, so I didn't think it
would take all that much for the fans to turn
on them, and I think if they lose to California,
which I expect that they will, it's going to really
ramp up for Dave Dorn and that hot seat talk
because he, you know, for all the success he had,
and he had pretty pretty decent relative success, he never
got them all the way over the hump and he
doesn't have that to fall back on, and now the
program's really struggling. They're not a good football team. Grayson
McCall got hurt at quarterback, and I think cale Is
is a kind of team out there, who've you know,
they're eight points, they're three and three, but they're eight
points away from being undefeated. I think you'll see NC State.
I'd be kind of surprised if they win.
Speaker 2: Oh you're not alone. I'm totally expecting Cal to win.
I'm totally expecting Cal to win that game. I was
just wondering how salty the NC State fans would be
on Twitter.
Speaker 1: I think it's about I think we're really close to
having it bus loose.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, the other brief comments I want to make here,
I mean it's pretty cool that. I mean, look, you
know we talked about Miami taking on Louisville at noon, right,
that's the second best time slot here. You got Notre
Dame going to Georgia Tech. That's a three thirty game
at ESPN, and then Duke is hosting an evening game
Jeff at seven o'clock on ESPN two. I mean, yeah,
Florida State's not that great, but when's the last I mean,
it's been a long time since Duke has really hosted
a game like this that hasn't been a team in
the Triangle area. Right, They've had Clemson come there lot,
you know, Clemson come there. When Clemson, you know, they
had a night game when Clemson came there. But it's
you know, we don't really see you know, this is
a course of Friday game, but we don't really see
Duke getting that kind of a hosting opportunity.
Speaker 1: Jeff No, you're you're right, and that seven o'clock Friday
night game actually does pretty well. And that's a pretty
exclusive window for Duke to kind of showcase their football program.
And you know, you'll have people watching them because you
know of the five and one record and how good
they are. But you know people are going to tune
in to kind of see, you know, how much further
down can Florida State go. So there's gonna be a
lot of eyeballs on that game. And it's that's that's
a big opportunity to show, you know, the nation, you know,
where Duke football is. And I think you have to
be you have to say, so far through six games,
it's in a pretty good place with what Manny Diaz
has done early in the early part of the year.
Speaker 2: Now let's go national chef and I tell you next week,
Georgia let me Georgia Texas gonna be a hell of
a game.
Speaker 1: Huh yeah, I think you know. On my upset, you know,
games of the week, we already talked about Miami and Louisville.
Very dangerous game for Miami. But like yeah, like you said, nationally,
you know, Notre Dame goes to Georgia Tech. And that's
one thing that's been kind of a hallmark of Brent
Key since he's gotten to Georgia Tech. They typically play
their best football under him against you know, the higher
ranked teams. Doesn't mean they always win, but they're usually
pretty competitive. And the question mark for Georgia Tech it's
not that I don't think they're quite capable of playing,
you know, with Notre Dame and maybe even winning. It's
the status of Haines King, the quarterback of Georgia Tech.
You know, as we mentioned earlier on the podcast, he
set out the last half of the fourth quarter with
an injury, and so far today there's been no release
of the status of that injury. It seems to you know,
the message boards range anything from you know, shoulder injury
to concussion. But I mean he's a game changer at
the position for Georgia Tech. And you know, if he
plays and he's healthy, you know, they definitely have an
opportunity to knock off Notre Dame. If he's not available,
you have Zach Pyron who would be in the in
that game, and you know he's he's played some starting quarterback.
I think you know, with him at quarterback, I still
think you have a chance against Notre Dame. But you know,
in your first game of the season starting, you know,
that's a tough ask to play Notre Dame. I mean,
they're Georgia Tech's best chance of competing in that game
is if Haines King is a is available and healthy.
So we just have to keep an eye on that.
But you know, as a as a national game, that's
that's a pretty big one for for Georgia Tech and
Notre Dame.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: Then you look at some of the other games around
the country. UH, and there's some other you know, massive games.
That day. You have Alabama and Tennessee. You know, both
both teams already have kind of an unsightly loss on
their resume, Tennessee losing to Arkansas and Alabama with that
Vanderbilt loss, Uh, the loser on that of that game
is going to have it's probably gonna have to run
the table to make the playoff. I really think so.
I don't think the loser of that game can suffer
a third loss and and stay in the in the
top twelve. Uh So that's that's a massive game in
Knoxville and I and I don't like the way Alabama's playing.
I think, you know, since the first half of the
Georgia game, they didn't play well. In the second half
of that game, Georgia almost came back and beat them. Vanderbilt,
of course, knocked off Alabama, and then South Carolina, you know,
came within a knockdown hell Mary throw of beating Alabama.
That's a team that's got defensive issues against the Tennessee
team whose offenses kind of went south. So you know,
let's see which part of the either one of those
football teams can get over their hunt. But I think
you'll see Alabama not be able to go into Knoxville
and leave with a victory. I'm looking at Tennessee to
win that game. And then later in the day you
have a massive game down in Austin, Texas with Texas
playing Georgia, and you know the pressure is all on
Georgia in this game. You know they already have a
loss to Alabama, and you put a second loss on there,
and they're almost in the same boat as out the
loser of Tennessee Alabama, where they might be looking at
having to run out you know, the schedule to make
the playoff, because there'd be a second loss on that
schedule if they were to lose to Texas, and I
think they will. I don't think this Georgia team is
really all that great. Already have lost Alabama, struggled to
beat Kentucky, struggled a fairmount against Mississippi State. And I
think Texas is the best team in college football right
by far.
Speaker 2: They are. And I agree with you on Tennessee. I
think if Nick Saban was at Alabama, I might be
you know what, it sounds terrible, I might pick differently, Jeff.
But but how about this. What do you think about
that Oklahoma State road trip to b YU. Jeff, tell
me about that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't. I think Oklahoma State has been one
of the more disappointing teams in the country this year.
You know, if that game we're in still Water I
might say, here, here's a chance for an upset, but
I don't see Oklahoma State going into Provo and knocking
off that.
Speaker 2: I agree with you. That I agree with you one.
And the altitude is a little different up there too, right,
so it gets a little it takes some people a
while to get adjusted, you know, playing in Provo, right.
I mean, that's that's a factor for the Cougar, for
the for the Cougars, and they point they have a
real legit shot to go twelve, and oh you like
to talk about this on Twitter. I mean that I
think they have a good chance to run the table.
I mean, I'm actually dead serious about that. They have
a really good chance. And I'm wondering. I want to
hear I want to hear your your I want to
hear your Greg Sankey. Take here, chef, if b Y
use twelve and oh, they're certainly going to be rated twelve, right.
Speaker 1: Well, that would probably be where he wants to rank them.
But I think, uh, you know, b Yu runs the table,
they'll probably be ranked, you know, somewhere around five or
six when it's all yes said and done, and you
know they'll get one of those top four playoff spots,
which which Sankey and Petiti or trying to work some
way for it not to be the case, or whatever
they're trying to do to you know, get there, you know,
eight out of twelve auto bids or whatever, how therever
they're trying to ruin college football.
Speaker 2: Definitely, definitely. Man, So, okay, Jeff, it's the question you've
been waiting for, Buddy. I promised you I was going
to ask you this, so there were no there were
no surprises, Jeff, I really need to get your take
on the coaching tenure of Jeff Collins.
Speaker 1: Oh, Man, I don't even know where to begin. It's yeah,
it's just a train wreck. I mean everything that Jeff
Collins is touched since he's was at his first season
at Georgia Tech is just it's just turned into a
gigantic debacle. H You know, he ran Georgia Tech into
the He ran them into the ground. You know that
that's it's well documented. They did not get better at
any point under his tenure. By the time he reached
the the end of the road there. You know, it
was like a celebration when he was finally fired at
Georgia Tech. And I honestly thought that it would maybe
be several years before he would be able to receive
like a premiere, you know, coaching position at the P
four level. I definitely I thought it was out of
the question that he would ever be a head coach
again in you know, in the next decade. But I
definitely also didn't think he would be a head coordinator
anytime soon at the P four level. And you know,
Mac Brown as a coach and as a person is
someone that I like. I don't have anything against Mac
Brown at all, but I was stunned when he hired
Collins as defensive coordinator. And there was only one way
this was going to turn out unless we were all
going to unless we were all surprised, and it's turned
out the only way we would have expected. It's been
a complete disaster for North Carolina. For like just a
moment when they played Minnesota and the defense actually played
pretty well, and actually, you know, in fairness, his defense,
Collins defense, you know, was the reason they won that
opener against Minnesota. For like a brief moment, I think
a lot of us thought, oh, maybe we were wrong
about Collins, maybe he's better coordinator than a head coach.
But the last four games have gone as as badly
as they could have gone. For the for the Tar Heels,
I mean, you play James Madison, you give up seventy points,
then you then you play Duke and you blow a
twenty point second half lead with their defense. Then you're
playing Pittsburgh, you give up thirty four points in over
five hundred yards of offense. And then against Georgia Tech
with a quarterback on a hurt shoulder who was struggling
to really even throw, you know, forward passes, a guy
who was completing over seventy percent of his passes, you know,
barely over fifty yesterday, and Georgia Tech turns at a
run game and over three hundred and fifty yards on
the ground. And then for the way it ended, I
think Brent Key was just trying to get to overtime.
There's like twenty eight nine seconds left on the clock
and they just do a basic handoff to Jamal Haynes
and he burst through the line one cut scores. It's
just a microcosm of Jeff Collins coaching whole.
Speaker 2: Now. Fair enough, fair enough, but I want to go
to the flip side here. Flip side here, you know,
because I kind of had this discussion with you on Twitter,
and I think others did too. Mac Brown, I'm sorry. Yes,
he's a nice guy. Blah blah blah. He hasn't had
a defense exist during his tenure in Chapel Hill, his
second tenure. Nobody like sure, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's for sure. And I mean, you know,
when they looked and said, hey, we've got to make
a change at defensive coordinator and kind of get this
thing turned around, I never could have would have imagined
that he would have hired Jeff Collins to be tied
with turning that defense around. And uh, you know, he
gave gave him the keys to to the defense and
it's it's just been an absolute disaster.
Speaker 2: Boy fair boy, But mac Brown, then Mac Brown should
mac Brown should definitely be held accountable for his mistakes though,
is my point right?
Speaker 1: No? I agree with you. I agree.
Speaker 2: We've been sitting in a situation where I've been blogging
about you know how you how you have better you
know how there's better butter or some you know, Butter
can be a better defensive coordinator than what mac Brown
has had during his tenure, right, because at least you
can slip and slide on the football field if you have, Butter,
I'm sorry, I mean, a guy want me to say that,
but Mac mac Brown is mac Brown is the worst.
And that's all I had to say about that. Let's
go on to the last one, last open microphone. Jeff,
what do you got for us? Jeff?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know, we've we've gotten into the
second half of the season. It's just unbelievable. We've already
you know, half the season of college football has has
gone by, and I mean, if you're looking at the
ACC you know, if you're looking at kind of a
summary review of how the conference has been through the
first half of the season, I think overall, you know,
you have to be pretty satisfied with where where it's
at at the moment. You know, despite Florida State falling
off a cliff of their season, other teams have rose
up and and have had really surprising first half. I
think Pat Nardoozi is probably the a SEC coach of
the year at this point. They were picked thirteenth in
the preseason in the ACCS got them six, and oh
you know, they got a chance to be I think
it's either eight or nine, and oh, when Clemson comes
to town there at Akershuer Stadium, I mean, what that
would be just an absolutely massive game for Pitt to have.
So so Pitt has been an absolute surprise SMU. I
think Rhet Lashly has probably made the move the coaching
move of the ACC so far by going with Kevin
Jennings over Preston Jones or Stone, who is a really
quality quarterback. I mean, that was a bold move to
switch quarterbacks. And since he's done that, I mean, you've
got SMU five and one. We talked about it that
the loss to BYU looks way better now than it
did at the time, and you know, they're team that's
that's really you know, from where they started the season
almost losing in Nevada has has really risen up with
you know, have big win over TCU, we go back
to Pitt. They had two P four wins Cincinnati and
West Virginia. Clemson kind of riding the ship since that
Georgia loss, opening up that offense in a way that
we haven't seen in several years. Cade Klipnik's even getting
a little discussion for a Heisman talk now, I think
that's a little bit premature until they you know, get
further down the season play a few more quality teams.
But you could argue argue that, you know, Clemson is
playing the best football in the conference right right now,
and then of course Miami and cam Ward. You know,
he's on the short list of the top two or
three guys in the Heisman Chase. So I mean, those
are those are just the teams at the top, and
then you got Syracuse and Louisville. I think quality teams,
Georgia Tech, especially if he King is healthy, if Virginia Tech,
who's played well at times, can kind of build some consistency.
I mean, there's a lot of intriguing football the rest
of the season, and the ACC has a fair chance
to get multiple teams into the playoffs by the end
of the year. You've got two teams in the top
ten right now, Miami and Clemson, and Pittsburgh and SMU
are not too far down the down the rankings as well.
So I think this has been a really fun, interesting
college football season in the ACC so far. And you know,
as opposed to maybe some years in the past where
they were barely on the fringes of the playoffs, I mean,
they got a lot to play for and a lot
of great matchups coming in the second half of the season,
so I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 2: It should be a definitely should be fun, Jeff, It
definitely should be fun. I guess I'm just gonna say, hey,
thank you for holding this podcast tonight. Jeff. It was
fun to randomly talk about randomly talk about ACC football.
I mean, we obviously have very structured talk, but we
had a different, different conversation, a different conversation tonight where
we went around on a lot of different topics and
it was fun, fun to fund fun, fun to do that.
I like having these new open microphone segments where we
can kind of talk about whatever, whatever, whatever, what what,
whatever we're feeling about. I'll say this, I am looking Jeff.
I am looking forward to a SEC basketball this year.
It's gonna be fun. I know you are too. I
know you are too. And it's just a round just
just around the corner here, and you know it's I
think we're gonna have I think we have a chance
to have several ACC teams make some noise in the
big dance. I'm kind of really looking forward to seeing
how NC State reloads from their from their from their
from their just their incredible run from last year, and
how some of the other top top tier teams do
in the league. I'm looking forward to seeing how how
Mike Young, how Mike Young Mike Young's team in Blacksburg.
Uh will Uh? How do I say it adjust with
a brad new lineup right, I mean with most of
your production out the dory, with the with the transfer portal. Now,
you know, things are going to be much different in
the world, in the world at college basketball. And I
know you're looking forward to watching Damon stop my Stotta
Myers teams because I loved watching his offensive system last year.
And when he has you know, additional got additional time
with those players in the same system and and higher
level of recruits, it's going to be a different show
down there down there in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think you know, they're already starting to
get some dark horse, dark horse NCAA buzz down at
Georgia Tech. And I think it's in good hands with
Damon Stottomeyer. I think the backcourt is really intriguing, and
and you know their front court with with Nongo is
going to have it's going to be deeper than it
was last year. We saw the flashes you know, of
Georgia Tech, of what they might be capable of under
Stata Maria when they knocked off Duke North Carolina and
and also uh Clemson last year, who they all turned
out to be some really good basketball teams. So yeah,
Georgia Tech is going to be a very intriguing team.
I think Louisville, you know, they've just kind of suvered
under the over the over the years, and you know
now they're ready to move forward, and I think they
have a chance to kind of start to return to
what we're used to seeing. And I think they just
had the ACC Media Days this past week. So for me,
we're starting to approach my favorite time of the year,
when we're nearing the end of the college football season
but having a bunch of important games. And then you're like,
You're like me, we're going to watch college basketball in
November and December and really enjoy it. We're not just
like February college February and March college football fans. So
when I start seeing those matchups in November and December,
you know, I'm getting excited and when they're both going
on to me, that's that's peak sports watching.
Speaker 2: Time. Oh my gosh, that's the time where I hope
I don't gain a whole lot of weight and that
sort of thing by sitting just next to the two.
But you're absolutely right, it's absolutely right. It's the best
time of the year. Jeff. Yeah, always, always great to
chat with you. It was fun to have a classic
edition of the All Sports UH the UH, I should say,
the All Sports Discussion a SEC podcast and we're going
to come back again real soon on the podcast. But
thanks thanks for having this impromptu podcast tonight. And it
was fun, fun to chat and fun to chat like
old times with no guests. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Great, I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 2: All right, take care, all right bye,