Speaker 1: Hello, Welcome to this week in the Atlantic Coast Conference
podcast for All Sportsdiscussion dot com. This is Jeff and
you can follow me on Twitter or x 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 Twitter 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 over
to Matthew now as he gets us going in the podcast.
Speaker 2: Jeff, what are your thoughts in the a SEC Championship game?
Speaker 1: A man, that was Matthew that that was a great
game last night. I think you saw everything that justified
SMU and obviously Clemson being in the playoff. You know,
Clemson came out like a ball of fire, especially defensively,
jumped out to a big lead at one point, led
twenty four to seven in the second half, and then
you saw what has made SMU such a great football
team over the course of the year. Behind Kevin Jennings
and that offense, they mounted a furious comeback in the
fourth quarter of that game. And actually, if that game
had went to overtime. I think you're looking at an
ACC champion of SMU because they had all the momentum,
but the Clemson's credit, they took the kick off by
ad Adam Randall got them into position where even with
just nine seconds left, they only needed another play to
get in the field goal range. Kate Klebnick executed perfectly
on the past two. I think it was Antonio Williams.
And then the Houser kid, the field goal kicker, you know,
probably hit the kick of his life a fifty six
yard or to put Clemson into the playoff. And you know, thankfully,
and I know we'll get into, you know a little
bit more, the committee did the correct thing, the only
thing in my opinion, that would have made any sense whatsoever,
and you know, didn't penalize SMU to such an extent
that they were eliminated from the playoff. I mean, what
kind of precedent what that have sent to knock a
team that was in the playoffs out of the playoffs
based on a yardfield goal in a game that game
down to the wire. But you know, great game for
the for the a CC kind of showcasing on on
ABC with playoff implications and both teams showed up in
a great game.
Speaker 3: Excellent take check excellent take uh. On a future podcast,
we're gonna be asked about asking our guests about wins
or losses in the in the ball games for ACC
football teams that are coming up. So we're not gonna
we're not gonna go through that here tonight because we're
just gonna go through a quick just through a quick
take and I'm gonna help you go through this, Jeff,
I'm gonna I'm gonna give you some give I'm gonna
give you a question and I'm gonna get Then there's
a few games that are out there. Which agency team
do you think will do better? And which ACC football
team do you you think will do worse than expected
in the ball games this year? And of course, Jeff,
here i'm talking about the non playoff teams. Has the
scope and let me before you answer here, I mean
we we certainly have. I'm just going to run through
the games real quickly here. The LA ball You've got
cal versus UNLV. That's kind of an intriguing matchup right
because u NLV clocks in there at number twenty four.
You've got Pitt versus Toledo pitt kind of falling off
like the like the nineteen thirty stock market in the
second half of the season, Georgia Tech versus Vanderbilt. I'm
actually very intrigued by that game. That's the Birmingham Ball,
Syracuse taking on Washington State, UNC taking on Yukon, Boston
College taking on Nebraska, Miami taken on Iowa State.
Speaker 2: That's that's that.
Speaker 3: That actually looks like a really terrific matchup. It's kind
of like the that's the pop Tars Bowl. It was
kind of like the NC State Kansas State game from
last year. You've got NC State taken on East Carolina.
I love that the ESPN did this. This was such
a trill job. And then you've got Louisville taken on Washington.
That's the son that's the Sun Bowl, the traditional Sun Bowl,
of course, I CBS, and you in the tax Layer Ball,
You've got Duke taken on Old Mess And then the
last one right here, you got the Hokies taken on Minnesota.
And I actually have an interest in that because I
have an uncle who absolutely hates the Gophers, Jeff, and
he wants to see the Hokies get about sixteen interceptions
in that game. Jeff, he wants to see some NFL
money made by the defensive backs for Virginia for.
Speaker 2: Virginia Tech that game. So the short of it is, Jeff,
who do you think in this bunch is.
Speaker 3: Going to do much better than expected? And again we're
talking about non playoff teams. Is the scope and who
do you think is going to do worse than expected?
And I'll give you my response afterwards.
Speaker 1: I haven't. I haven't seen the spread, so I haven't.
I haven't looked at those so for who might be
the favorite. But if I'm looking at, you know, the
teams that I really think will show well in the bowls,
I'm looking at Louisville here against Washington. That's that's a
quality game there in the Sun Bowl. And I think
Louisville was really disappointed in how they played last year
against USC and this is a big opportunity for them
to kind of, you know, really establish Louisville is one
of the teams that we're going to be you know really,
you know, tracking in the ACC in the future is
one of the better teams. I look at Louisville, I
think Georgia Tech came off a ton of momentum against
that Georgia game, and I think Brent Key's got a
real fire to him and have an opportunity to play,
you know, And this is not your your normal Vanderbilt team.
We know about you know, Pabia quarterback and what they
did against al Obama. You know, this is a dangerous
Vanderbilt team. But I expect Georgia Tech to play well
in that game. I think that's that's a team that's
setting up for next year. If you're looking at teams
that I might be kind of concerned about how they
could disappoint, you know. I'm I'm looking at NC State
here against East Carolina. East Carolina lives to beat Tobacco
Road schools and at ACC schools, and they are going
to be highly motivated in that game. And NC State
better definitely better be ready. I think Duke playing an
ole Miss team that this is going to be an
intriguing game. But if ole Miss is really motivated, which
could be a question in this game after getting left
out of the playoff, this is probably the most fifty
to fifty game on the whole board. I could see Duke,
you know, getting really run by ole Miss. Or I
could see you know, a Duke team, you know, really
look at this game as a as a bigger game
for them than the way Ole Miss does and you know,
producing an upset there. I do think, you know, if
Jackson Dart is in that game, Lake chinsper has been
all over the internet. You know, Ole Miss is a
pretty capable team, and that is one that you know,
on the surface, that's gonna a lot depend on the
game flow. But I'm a little bit worried about Duke
in that one.
Speaker 3: Are you worried about Pittsburgh playing Toledo? Jeff in front
of a basically a home crowd for Toledo when they
play in Detroit against Pittsburgh because that's the Stones throw
from Toledo per se, I think they probably will have
a lot of fans at that game versus Pittsburgh, And
I'm not really sure how motivated Pittsburgh is going to
be going into that game against Toledo.
Speaker 1: You know that that that is also a game, you know,
that's that's another game where where's Pitt's mind going to
be at I mean, if they're motivated and into that game,
I feel like that's a pretty good matchup for them
because they should be able, you know, not to have
to worry about physically matching up with Toledo. If they're right,
you know, I think I think they win that game.
But like you said, you know, and that's kind of
like that East Carolina game. If Toledo is making this
kind of their super Bowl with Pitt coming into the
game with five losses, that could easily be a game
where the bottom just falls out on Pitt's season completely.
That's something I quite don't understand. You have another opportunity
to play with your team and to go into these
bowl games, and I understand the opt outs, you know,
it's just part of the business now. But when the
rest of the team just kind of goes in there
and you know, just doesn't have a motivation or the
will to kind of play. You know, every every game
is an opportunity to gain a victory and set the
tone for next season. And so even if you have
a couple of opt outs here and there, I mean,
the rest of that team playing should go in to
these games, you know, highly motivated.
Speaker 2: So it just very quickly.
Speaker 3: I think Virginia Tech is going to have seventy five
percent of the fans in Charlotte. I'm very sure of that.
Minnesota travels for hockey games. They do not travel for football,
they do not travel for men's basketball. That's going to
be a decidedly home crowd favored for the home crowd
favorite there for Virginia Tech. So it's kind of an
opportunity at least to try to put for the Hokies,
to put themselves, you know, back in a little better
position for next year, and have everybody thinking that that
get get drunk on Pop Watson right that he I mean,
I'm being a little little sarcastic here, right, all of
a sudden, all of a sudden, you you know how
hockey fans are, Jeff, all of a sudden, they're up
by twenty points.
Speaker 2: Yeah right, it's gonna happen.
Speaker 3: So, I mean, every you know, that's that, everybody will
be ready for that. But it is gonna be a
good scene down there in Charlotte. So I'm I'm happy
to happy to see that the Hoky's got that one.
That's it, and the Duke Mail, Duke Mayo folks wanted
Virginia Tech in there too, in there too. Let's go
on to the seating, Jeff, uh boy, I think the
committee did a darn good job.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna give you my take on this, Jeff. I
think the committee did a darn good job.
Speaker 3: The only alteration I would make, Jeff, is I would
I would totally do it made for TV Matt Tip
and I would have SMU playing Texas and I would
have Clempton playing at Penn State. Jeff, I would like
that is one the only change that I would make
to that. But I thought that they did a good job,
and I shouldn't say that. I'll let you back up.
I didn't like Indiana getting in there at all, but
I figure, since Indiana's in there and SMU's in there,
I'm not going to not really going to complain. I
probably would have complained more of Alabama got in there,
but I think for the most part they did a
good job. I just would have switched those two matchups
because I I wanted a big time, old old time
swack matchup.
Speaker 2: Jeff, What do you yeah?
Speaker 1: I think I think that would have been a lot
of fun for the state of Texas and for SMU,
And you know, that would have been a nerve wracking
game for Texas to play s m U. I think
in that in that state and and you know, trying
to be uh, you know, the big program of the state.
You know, it's kind of like that East Carolina NC
State type thing that that would have been a lot
of fun. And I think you know, comes and going
to Penn State also would have been good. But you know,
these are are not massive gripes because I totally agree
with you, Matthew that this is one of the best
jobs that CFP committee has done, you know, since since
they've they've had the four and expanded team playoff. I thought,
honestly it was an excellent job with how they put
the put the field together. I think it's very fair
to ask, you know, is Indiana really a playoff caliber team?
And I think they they managed it perfectly. They they
reward them for you know, a fine eleven in one season.
But you know, if they'd been Ohio State or Georgia
or any of the power programs, you know that they're
getting a high seed and hosting a game even if
they didn't make their title game. But they I think
they definitely recognize that Indiana played a very soft schedule
and have them going on the road to play Notre Dame.
I think it was really fair to, you know, have
Clemson not have a by game. They did lose three games,
after all, so you've got them set up, you know,
as a double digit seed going on the on the road.
I mean, you can't argue with that. Obviously, the the
SMU inclusion goes without saying it was. It was the
the obvious and correct thing to do, and I'm glad
that they recognize that had they knocked SMU out, you
basically would have had conference championships games not existing anymore,
because if they would have knocked them out based on
a fifty six yard field goal, you're you're seeing conference
championship games gonna get canceled left and right, because no
one's gonna put a team at risk again ever again
for playing an extra game while someone who sits at
home pops in. And this is not a situation like
I saw one media or one college football media guy
posted to I'm going to just leave nameless tried to
explain if the SMU had got left out, it would
have been, you know, no different than Georgia losing last
year as a twelve tozero team and not making the playoffs,
which which obviously is completely a ludicrous analogy syst because
last year the teams that all made it in over
Georgia were conference champions and had one or fewer loss.
It wasn't a three loss team overtaking a team that
appeared in the conference champion ship. So to me, it
was no relation to that scenario whatsoever. And then by
Boise State getting a bye, I think that really showed
a lot of fairness to the G five schools and
has really, you know, it's made it a true open playoff.
There's not a there's not a coach out there a
G five school that can go to his team and say, hey,
we can play the best football we can play in
the world, and we're not going to make the playoff.
We're gonna get shafted into a road game because Boise
State in year one is going to get a it's
going to get a bye. And you know, given the
way the scenario worked out, where if SMU would have won,
they would have been ahead of Arizona State, or now
with Clemson winning, they get fifth that spot. I think
that that's okay, And you can argue about the schedule,
but you know the fact is that Boise State lost
one game to the number one team in the country
in a very close game. I mean, you know, so
they got the buy and I'm okay with it. So
I'm totally in agreement with you, Matthew. The College Football
Committee did a great job. We don't know how much
longer this is going to last. Before for Greg Sank
he tries to destroy it in a couple of years
by you know, having four sec and you know, Tony
Petiti try to get their four auto bids and just
ruin the whole thing. But for one year you got
a little bit of a shot in the arm of
having kind of integrity restored to the whole process. And
I don't know how long it'll last, but at least
for one year, you know, you kind of brought back
what's really great about college football and that you got
all kinds of teams having a chance. You didn't overdo
it with with other conferences, even the money making ones
until you really feel like this was an open, open playoff.
Speaker 2: Excellent, Jake, Jeff. So here's my next question.
Speaker 3: Then, can SMU or Clemson make a run in the
college football playoffs?
Speaker 1: I think they can, and and the and the and
the reason I do think that that it's possible that
they could make a run. Is when when you're in
the double digit seed and and you're going on the
road against you know, the five, six or seven or
eight team, You're gonna get a tough game there. There's
no like easy outs there. But I think of avoiding,
you know, the the offense at Tennessee, avoiding you know,
a really talented Ohio State team who who you know,
might be a top three team in the country except
when they play Michigan. You've avoided them. You've avoided Notre Dame,
who I think might be playing as well as anyone
not named Oregon in the whole country. You Texas team
for Clemson, who I think you physically match up reasonably
well with. I know Texas has has a really great defense,
and a lot's going to depend on how healthy Clemson
is in the backfield. But I don't think Clemson is
going to be overwhelmed, you know, by the talent that
that Texas has. And if they win that game, this
is where the real run can start. Is they'll get
Arizona State in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, and that's
going to be probably a very that's going to be
a partisan Clemson crowd. And that's why I think when
you look at you know how this all could turn out.
You know, Clemson has an opportunity, a real opportunity to
make a run. And I mean, it's going to be
very difficult to win in Texas, and not that many
people will expect that that happened. But if you get
by that one, you get a matchup where you can
feel like you're going to have the home crowd behind you.
Arizona State's a good is a really good team, but
they you know, they're not in the class of some
of the elite teams, and that I don't think anyone
would argue that SMU. I think when you have a
quarterback like Kevin Jennings, you can play with anyone in
the in the country on a given day. And we
know James Franklin's record in big games, he just doesn't
show up. Penn State is a team that plays really
tight in the bigger games. I know they got within
a score of Oregon last night, but they were behind
almost the entirety of that game and they were just
trying to play catch up the whole way. And and
I don't know if it's you know, from from the
way he coaches or what goes on at Penn State.
But when they're in a big game, they get really
they get really tight. And I think SMU has an opportunity,
especially if if if Jenny can you know, stay clear
in the pocket, use his legs when you have a
quarterback like that. And I think the Penn State defense
is not that far frommoved from the talent that Clemson brought.
And when Jennings got going, I mean he was slicing
up Clemson's defense really good, and I don't think that's
out of the question. He can do some of that
against Penn State. We saw with Dylan Gaber Well they dropped,
like I think they're more than forty points on Penn
State's defense last night. So I think there's you know,
it's not going to be easy, obviously, but I think
there's opportunities for Clemson and SMU to make runs, particularly
Clemson if they can get by that Texas game. All right, Matthew,
still with us?
Speaker 2: Sorry, I was on med can you hear me?
Speaker 1: Yep? Perfect?
Speaker 3: Okay, So I asked you a question, man, Sorry, I
was on my apologies, I was on on meute here. Uh,
I want to ask you a question about the FCS
playoff bracket. Okay, you're ready, You're ready for it. Jeff,
I'm gonna be really quick. You know, you know this
is this should be the easiest question you answer all day.
These are the four games. Former North Dakota State state
assistant uh, the offensive coordinator, the head coach of Montana State,
number uh, number one seed in the entire playoffs, right,
takes on Idaho.
Speaker 2: That's a one versus eight game. Who wins that?
Speaker 1: Give me? Give me the one seed in.
Speaker 2: That one Montana State, Okay.
Speaker 3: North Dakota State takes on Mercer from Georgia and in Fargo.
Speaker 1: Hey, I'm never gonna bet against North Dakota State.
Speaker 2: And okay.
Speaker 3: South Dakota State takes on the University of Incarnate Ward
in Brookings, South Dakota.
Speaker 1: Give me South Dakota, okay.
Speaker 3: And finally, South Dakota takes on UC Davis. This is
the quarters in South Dakota.
Speaker 2: Who wins?
Speaker 1: Jeff, Hey, give me another Dakota team.
Speaker 2: Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 3: Jeff?
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is.
Speaker 2: Why I asked that question. You got all these northern
teams that.
Speaker 3: Are I mean, I agree with every one of your picks.
They're all going to be in the in the semis.
Speaker 2: Isn't that crazy? Yeah, I mean it's very cool. Okay,
what do you got for us, Jeff, what do you
got for us? Open mic?
Speaker 1: Well, I think we've you know, i've shared, you know,
my opinions on the on the CFP, what the playoffs
will look like. I know we'll get into the bowl games,
probably more in detail in the future podcast. Let's talk
a little bit about ACC basketball. Unfortunately, the ACC SEC
Challenge win is very much the way we expected last week,
maybe even a little bit worse. There's no other way
to describe it. You know, the ACC got wood shedded
by the AC, by the SEC top to bottom. I mean,
it was it was. It was bad. I mean it
was fourteen to two and a lot of the games
weren't competitive. If there is a slight silver lining to it,
if you're gonna win just two games, make the two
games really count and you know, don't have it be
over like some unranked middle of the road SEC team.
Make it you know, one of their one of their
best teams. And the two ACC teams, I think now
many consider the two best in the league now knocked
off arguably the two best teams in the SEC. And
I'm talking about Clemson, who has just the one loss
at Boise State. They got to win over Penn State
a couple of weeks ago in a pre conference tournament.
That Penn State team just beat Purdue. And they knocked
off Kentucky at Little john last Tuesday night, a game
I was at, and it was an absolutely unbelievable atmosphere.
Between that backcourt, Chase Hunter and the BC transfer Zachary,
they did things to control the tempo against Kentucky that
nobody else has been able to do. I mean, remember,
this Kentucky team already beat Duke and last night they
were down eighteen to a really, really good Gonzaga team
and came back in won. Kentucky's one of the five
or six best teams in the country, and now Clemson's
got to win over them, and that backcourt allows them
to play with just about anyone. And you know, they
followed it up with a win at Miami. If Clemson's
not ranked in the top fifteen in the next poll,
somebody's not watching college basketball because Brandell's got them playing
extremely well. You know, then you go and talk about
Duke who picked up the other the other win, and
I think it was clear Duke, you know, might have
as talented of roster as any in college basketball, but
they're young and they were not closing out games that
they probably should have won. They probably should have wins
over Kentucky and Kansas, you know, two teams that they
as good as those teams are, I thought, I thought
Duke out played them for the majority of those games
and then kind of fell apart, you know, in the
last two minutes. And whether it was there any experience
in youth or John Shire just you know, not getting
the ball in the right the hands are their right person.
You are to wonder a little bit, you know, is
Duke not going to reach their their potential, you know,
and be a Final Four capable team. Well they they
they showed what they're capable of when they held off
an Auburn team that ran through an elite field at MAUI.
I mean, Auburt is going to probably win like thirty
thirty two games this year. They were extremely good. And
for Duke to you know, take take some really hard
shots from Auburn and come away with the win. And
then tonight against Louisville, they were in a tight game
and then just you know, blew them out off the
court over the last seven or eight minutes to win.
I think you've seen Duke, you know, turn the corner
from being just a pretty good team, a good team
to one that's capable of winning the national championship. And
I think you're going to see Duke win seventeen eighteen
nineteen games in the ACC this year. I think they
are a very very good team that starting to find themselves.
And so, you know, last week was a disaster for
the ACC, but Duke and Clemson, you know, showed that
Duke can win a national championship. I don't think Clemson
can quite do that, but I could see if Clemson
maintains this trajectory, you know, they could find themselves in
the Elite eight again. So really bad week for the ACC,
but two teams really stood out and did and and
produced a couple of marquee Q one wins.
Speaker 2: I'm with you, Jeff, I'm with you, and I'll say this.
Speaker 3: I think it's very possible, and you can tell me
if I'm wrong. Now, I think my friend Tim, you know,
our friend Tim Thomas has been on here a few
times and he said, oh, you know, Virginia Tech could
be like, you know, like that Notre Dame that was
a you know, a thorn in the side of everybody,
because they'll get better as this season goes along. Well,
I don't necessarily agree with that, because Virginia Tech, in
my opinion is isn't as physical as that Notre Dame
team was last year. I don't think that's a valid comparison.
But I do think that if you if you decide
that you're gonna sleep walk at the castle that can
come back to haunt you, would you agree with that, Jeff?
Because it came pretty I mean, Virginia Tech is playing
I think with a not with an acc roster and
and almost be pitt Uh. You know this this past
this past weekend, this past weekend on Saturday, and I was,
I was, I I didn't think that Virginia Tech honestly
would have I thought I thought they would actually get
blown out in that game.
Speaker 2: And I wrote that.
Speaker 3: I wrote that, I wrote that before on the All
Sports Discussion Twitter record and I said, watch the hookies
just get smoke by double digits here, right, And they
were ahead up until like two minutes to go. And
I mean, I don't expect to good season at all
for the Hokies. I I I think I I I
don't think the Hookies will be winless in ACC play,
but I I think that they will be flirting with
uh flirting with record futility potentially in the ACC. But
I also think that they're gonna sneak up on somebody
some night at the Castle. And it's and and what
I think, Jeff, God, I sound like I'm sarcastic here, Jeff,
But what I think could happen is that Virginia Tech
could is going to be in that role of damaging
somebody's rent net ratings as they get close to the
NCAA Tournament. Am I wrong with that?
Speaker 1: I No, I don't. I don't think so, not at all,
Because the problem is, you know, outside of Duke and Clemson,
maybe Pitt, you know, no one has really distinguished themselves
in the pre conference part of the SEA. So you
got you're gonna have a bunch of teams that are
gonna have to use the ACC conference season to get
into the NCAA Tournament. And that means a lot of
teams unless they're winning sixteen seventeen ACC games are gonna
be on the bubble and and if any of these
bottom teams, and that's why I think it was so
critical for Pitt even if they won by a point
to get out of Blacksburg with a win, and they
managed to do that. But you know other teams that
are going to be kind of in and around that
bubble during the course of the season. If they get
up and then get bit by a Virginia Tech or
a Miami or a Georgia Tech. You know teams that
are you know, but not gonna make the NCAA tournament,
let's be honest, but you know, on a given night
produces an upset, you know, it could be pretty damaging
for those for those teams. I mean, I think you
go into the season, especially in North Carolina, is a
bubble going to probably be a bubble team at this
point unless you know they get that interior play fixed.
I mean, you're going into a c C play and
I think the only one two teams you feel comfortable
about their NCAA hopes, like really comfortable at the moment,
or Clemson Duke and probably Pit And I think the
ACC ends up with with six or seven bids that
means four teams have to are gonna be sweating it
out every night. I'm not sure which ones it's gonna be,
but I mean I could see Wake Forest in that mix,
North Carolina in that mix. I think NC State is
going to be in a position where they could be
one of the better ACC teams. But getting into the
NCAA Tournament is all gonna, you know, come down to
those kind of games you're talking about, where the bottom
of the league, those teams that struggled in the pre conference,
you know, get a little better and then not to
knock somebody off at home.
Speaker 2: Definitely, definitely.
Speaker 3: And on that note, Jeff, thanks for having a great
discussion about ACC football. Make sure I'll make sure I
confirm this next week and ACC men's basketball. I should
say I'll make say make sure I confirm this next week.
But Terry Johnson will should be here next week with
us from the old from the old College Footballnews dot Com.
He should be here with us. And then to close
out the season, it will be Matt Simmick from Trojan's
Wire and formerly College Footballnews dot Com.
Speaker 2: He's been all over the place.
Speaker 3: So we've got a couple of really good guests to
close the season out, and uh, you know, I I'm
looking forward to it. I mean, we'll we'll, we'll be
we'll be able to talk some talk, some talk, some
fun college football.
Speaker 1: So Jeff, have a great week, all right, great