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 at talking a
c C Sports. That's at t A l k I
N A c C S p O r t S.
Your podcast moderator is Matthew and you can follow him
on Twitter at All Sports d A c C. That's
at A L L S p O r T S
d A c C. As we wait for math you
and for our guests to join, we can go a
little bit into the week that was in the ACC.
A lot going on here. We had a you know,
the huge upset of Georgia Tech over Clemson this past
weekend on that fifty five yard field goal by by
Georgia Tech and and a firehouse drill with twenty seconds
left on the clock got that field goal off and
away and put in a signature win for the Yellow Jackets.
And Brent Key, let me check in on mister Matthew,
see if he's on his way, all right. We also
saw Miami taking on a rank South Florida team and yeah,
I'm kind of not sure how people are aren't putting
Miami into their top three after what they've done so
far this season, you know, beating a very good Notre
Dame team, one that they led by double digits in
the fourth quarter, uh, and kind of let them back
into the game with some Mario Cristobaul conservative play calling
in the fourth quarter, but one that you know, they
looked like the better team the majority of that game. Hey, Matthew,
we got you on board.
Speaker 2: Can you hear me?
Speaker 1: Yes and clear?
Speaker 2: Okay, something that we're having. Something seems to be wrong
with pod being doesn't seem to be getting through with
the uh, with the uh, with the with with the
with the phone tonight. But eventually you're able to get
me in here. I think that's probably a good thing.
Ah Man. It's the longest running independent acc podcast in
the country. Welcome back, Dan. How you doing for.
Speaker 1: We do not see Dan on the line yet, Matthew.
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, maybe he's having difficulty. Maybe he's having difficulty
like me too, Jeff, because I got into my computer
and I think he was probably trying you know, we're
probably trying to get in through the phone, you know.
So it's just it's an a It's been very odd
the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: So let me check with Dan here.
Speaker 2: Drop the Lincoln here? Is that the air?
Speaker 1: Yeah, let me drop the Lincoln there. We were just
starting to go over a little bit of what happened.
Uh last week I talked talked real briefly about the
Georgia Tech Clemson game and then kind of had a
few words from Miami and that very impressive performance again
South Florida in a game they completely dominated.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I had a good blocker there
from NDS you right in too, right and Shamar Brown.
I told you you're gonna hear his name, Jeff this year.
That guy. That guy's a beast. That guy can block,
and he's supposed to be a runner. But they've got
you know there, they got quite a bit of talent
over there. Right now. Uh, Dan is ready to go.
We are good to go. This is good news here.
Welcome to the All Smarts Discussion ACC podcast. This is
the longest running independent ACC podcast in the United States,
and tonight we have a great return guest. This week
we have Dan Carrow who's the owner and operator of
treadmail Horse dot com. You can follow Dan on Twitter
at at treadmill Horse. That's at t r E A
D M I L H O R S E. Dan,
Welcome back, tell about yourself, anything you want to plug
the floor as yours.
Speaker 4: Dan. Hi, guys, I appreciate you having me on the
on the podcast again. It's been it's been a while,
but always happy to be here. Yeah, a little bit
about myself. I'm a two thousand and four graduate of
Virginia Tech. Started the Treadmill Horse blog and Twitter account
it back in twenty thirteen, and I've been writing about
Virginia Tech and the ACC since then. It's maybe a
little less fun to write about Virginia Tech these days
than it has been in the past, but I keep
it going, and I also like to mix it up
with ACC content because sometimes it helps me keep my sanity.
But yeah, like excited to be here and thank you
both for having me on.
Speaker 2: Well, we'll appreciate you. We appreciate you coming. We appreciate
you coming on the show.
Speaker 1: Dan.
Speaker 2: So perhaps some some some interesting questions here to start
out with, but we may have an obvious answer here
for the first question. Obviously, your most disappointing ACC team
of the week. We think, no, we know you're gonna
go where you're gonna go there and who the most
impressive team is. But if you have more than a
couple of answers for these questions, will take that because
we are an overall ACC blod, so I'm not gonna.
Speaker 4: Start with the obvious answer, which I'll get to in
a second. Honestly, my most disappointing was actually Pitt, and
it's mostly because we already knew Virginia Tech was pretty
bad going into this game, so the disappointments maybe lessened
a bit just because high expectations weren't exactly there. But
Pitt had has a really good team. They had the
opportunity to go into Morgantown and pull out a big
win and a rivalry game. It's also one that I
thought the ACC needed to have just because West Virginia
is on year one of a new head coach or
a head coach they brought back to Morgantown. I just
felt like that was one that Pitt was in really
good position to win, especially a rivalry game on the road.
I thought it was pretty disappointing that they couldn't pull
that one out, especially with the fact that they had
that game pretty well in control toward the end of
the fourth quarter, but they kept leaving the door open
for West Virginia to come back into it, So I
thought that was disappointing. But yeah, just to talk about
Virginia Tech a little bit, I think they definitely had
some issues in the first two games in the season
and fell apart a little bit in the fourth quarter
against Vanderbilt. So I don't know that expectations were necessarily
high going into this week, but I don't think there
was a lot of people out there, at least not
that I saw they were seriously and realistically picking Old
Dominion to win. So not only to lose, but to
get blown out pretty badly in that game, I think
that that is pretty disappointing, not just for Virginia Tech,
but for the ACC as a whole.
Speaker 2: Fair enough, Dan, fair enough, Jeff, you're a friend. If
you're on mood, Jeff, you got to tell you have
you take off? I think you might be at mute.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was gonna ask a follow up there to Dan there,
who did you have as the you know, ACC teams
that were the most impressive this past week.
Speaker 4: Honestly, it's I gotta go, well, I've got two. But
I think Georgia Tech has to be the most impressive
for a couple of reasons. I went into this game
thinking Georgia Tech would win straight up, just because in
the first couple of weeks of the season, I actually
have been more impressed with Georgia Tech than I have Clemson.
So I don't know that i'd call it a huge surprise,
but it was good to see them break through. We
knew that the Haines King and Jabal Haynes combination was
was gonna be tough like all throughout the year, but
it was really great to see them to break see
them break through against Clemson. I feel like have all
the pieces this year, but to go up and take
care of business, especially at home, I think it was
really great to see that. I also think that Miami
did a great job and that was an impressive win.
I think USF maybe got a little bit more hype
than they deserve. Maybe they didn't have the talent to
back up all that hype, and Florida is a team
that's struggling a little bit, So I don't know that
that win is necessarily as big as ever Road's making
it out to be, but it's good to see that
it was a big game Miami at home, and they
took care of business. So I think if you're looking
across the entire ACC, I think those are the two
teams that they really made a statement this weekend.
Speaker 1: Yeah, those are those were really really good choices, you know,
especially you know, Miami living up to its it's billing
and looking every bit of a team that you know
can contend for a national title. I mean they look
really I mean I felt like watching that game, they
really just they toyed with a good South Florida team.
I mean, we know South Florida blew out Boise State,
you know, then they beat maybe an overrated Florida team,
but still going into the swamp, you know, that's saying something.
It's not like Florida is terrible. And I really felt
like if Miami wanted to go out one hundred percent,
it would have been sixty to twelve. I felt like
they kind of held back, to be honest, especially in
the second half, got a little sloppy with things. Miami
is really really good. And shout out to Matthew who
correctly picked that Miami and Florida would be game Day,
which I thought might not happen, especially with Florida kind
of reeling, so rare opportunity for an ACC team in
the middle of the season to have game day, they
have to have an SEC opponent. Still I'm waiting for
that ACC on ACC matchup and even on prime time,
but that it's still going to be a showcase for
my for Miami. And and of course you know Georgia
Tech coming through and then that signature victory over them,
and you know that that's a game where I mean,
you all know me, I'm a big Clemson fan, but
what on that day plays. I mean, I was thrilled
to see Georgia Tech when you know when they play
each other, I'm rooting for Georgia Tech the rest of
the household and and other family members. Clemson. Uh, finally
I get a little bragging rights after nine years. But
also one other team I want to mention is cal
who you know, they had that ten thirty start against Minnesota,
and just like you said, Dan, you know about you know,
pitting let Pitt getting away West, letting West Virginia get
away with that with that game and kind of collapsing
down to stretch in that game. Cal is a team
that I think you have to keep deep an eye
on the rest of the season, and I really wanted to.
I knew that they had something going on at quarterback,
and I'm gonna pronounce. I'm gonna try his name once
for the rest of the season. I'm just gonna call him,
uh JKS. But I got it here in front of me.
Jeron Kiawi Saga, Pope lou Telly, that's Jks the rest
of the year. This this kid has got an arm.
Highly recruited to go to Oregon, but chose Cal. And
you know, they were playing a pretty good Minnesota team,
you know, a physical Minnesota team. That's that you know,
there's is most likely, you know, maybe not be in
the category of the best teams in the Big Ten,
but could be an upper echelon team, and they physically
matched up with Minnesota. It was a tight game in
the second half. And we've seen a bunch of ACC
teams just kind of collapse in close games out of
conference down to the stretch, but Cal did not. And
they are three to zero, and I was really impressed
that they were, you know, one of the few ACC
teams to have an opportunity at a conference and and
come away with a victory, and then you look at
their schedule and if they take care of business, I
mean they could be a factor in the ACC race.
So you know, late night finish for cal but definitely
one of the teams I think we wanted to note. So, Dan,
let's look ahead to Week four. What ACC football game
or games are you looking forward to to most in
week four?
Speaker 4: You already mentioned Dad, it's that Florida at Miami game.
I think it's going to be a classic. I love
the game days there. Like you said, I feel like
the ACC gets game day maybe once a year, so
I think it's noteworthy whenever in ACC gets ACC team
gets game day at home. I think we need to
point out out you didn't nail that. Like I, I
honestly didn't think it was gonna happen. So I'm actually
surprised that they're going down to Miami. But the ACC
badly needs Miami to win this game. Billy Napier's on
the ropes. He's playing for his job, like he might
meet the same fad as Brent Prye this week if
it doesn't go well for him. I just think it's
great theater. I think Miami wants to have bragging rights
within the state. I think that that's something they've been
looking to establish there for a while, or at least
a lockdown for a while. And you've got Billy Napier
like coaching for his job, So I think that one's
gonna be entertaining either way. I feel like Florida is
in a rough spot right now, so I think it's
gonna be tough for them to come in and beat
Miami at home, but we'll see. I think it's gonna
be interesting either.
Speaker 1: Way, all right, Dan, which ACC team could be on
upset alert in Week four if they are looking ahead
to a game on their schedule or otherwise just sleepwalking
on the field.
Speaker 4: So I think I got to go back to that
Miami game. If Miami sleepwalks at all, I think that
they're gonna lose. And I don't think there's any ACC
versus SEC matchup at this point that the ACC can
really feel good and comfortable about, so that one looks
looks like the one that I would identify that Miami.
I wouldn't go as far as to say Miami's on
upset alert, and I don't think that I will put
them on my upset alert list this week, But that's
one where they've got to Florida's gotta have Miami's full attention.
I think they will because it's it's a rivalry game,
but they definitely can't start out slowing that one because
if they do, it might be trouble for them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, another ACC game that I think I want to
keep an eye on how they perform. And traditionally Syracuse
has given fits to Clemson, especially when Dino Babers was there,
and they you know, Syracuse has got a little bit
of offensive punch, not very good on defense. But I mean,
you got to wonder where Clemson Clemson's head is at.
You know, they were not expecting to be one and
two on the season, and I mean, weird things have
happened in that series. And if Clemson struggles out of
the gate, Syracuse puts up an early score and you
got like a ten to seven game at the half.
You know, you give up a score in the second half,
and you know, all of a sudden, Clemson's in a
in a four quarter game with Syracuse, and you know
they have a really poor record against P four teams
going back to last season. I think it's something like
one in six or one in seven, and you know,
I don't I'm definitely not feeling confident enough to call
this an outright upset, but it's one that if Clemson's
head is not in the right space, it could be
far closer than the seventeen and a half point spread.
And I don't think that. I don't think that's a
game that Clemson wants to go four quarters. But sometimes
you know they say close games or like character building,
and if you win. I mean, if I'm Clemson, I
want to go in there and I want to throttle
Syracuse and start playing like a lot of people feel
like they're capable of because if they if they struggle,
and that game with Syracuse, you know, they got a
lot tougher games coming up later in the season, Florida State,
Louisville on the road, South Carolina. Even though they lost
to van they got bump by Vanderbilt this past weekend,
but you know, Leonora Sellers also got hurt in that game.
So uh, you know, really want to see something something
out of Clemson this this week in a game that
you know they need, they need to be right or
it's gonna it's gonna be much tougher than they expect.
Speaker 4: I think I've talked about this on the podcast before.
I always look at that those noon starts, I call
them the sleepy noon starts, where the team at home
sometimes doesn't come out as fired up as you would hope,
especially against a team like Syracuse where Clemson, like you said,
is a seventeen and a half point favorite. Uh, those
sleepy starts sometimes get you. And if Clemson isn't ready
to play from from the jump, they could have trouble.
So yeah, I mean, I still think Clepson will take
care of business in that game, but that's that's definitely
one to watch out for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, really good point there, Dan. Uh. Let's let's step
out of the acc for bit here. Which national FBS
games are you looking forward to the most in Week four?
And we're wide open this question with this question. This
can be a Power five, you know, non Power well, no,
now we got Power four. This could be a P
four game, non P four. You can even have an
FCS matchup. Give us a winner of those games that
you're looking.
Speaker 4: At, I mean the ones. The one that I'm most
excited about is that Miami, like that Florida Miami game,
because I think that that has the funnest game of
the weekend written all over it. But there's a couple
of good games on the slate this week. I don't
think it's as good as last week because last week
we had basically a full day of fun games going
all the way till two am Eastern time of good football.
But I'm keeping an eye out for Texas Tech at Utah.
That's another noon game on Fox. That one should be fun.
That one should be a close game. I got to
go with Utah at home on the at for that one,
but that one looks like it should be interesting. Auburn
at Oklahoma another ranked team matchup. Again, I'm looking at
that one. Probably take the home team, probably Oklahoma at home.
That Oklahoma at home, that seems like, uh the safe
play there. And Oklahoma played pretty well on the road
at Temple last week, So that's one to keep an
eye on. And then finally, in the evening NBC game,
it's Illinois at Indiana, and I'm watching that game mostly
to see like which one of those teams is actually
for real? You know, can Illinois went on the road
in Indiana or is Indiana gonna gonna put up a
good show in so we'll see those ones have entertaining
games written all over it, and I think that takes
you through the game through the day. That's a noon game,
a three thirty game, and a night game. So if
you're if you're looking for a couple of good matchups
to watch this week, and I think you got to
go with those three.
Speaker 1: All right, all right, Dan Matthew, I'm gonna turn it
over to you now for the last couple segments in
this podcast.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Jeff so Dan. I mean, this is kind
of a new thing we started last year where we
have two open microphone segments. In the first one, we
have only for our guest, right for so you get
you you know, you get your own your own solo
open microphone. And then the second session is an open
microphone for everybody. So here's your solo microphone opportunity, Dan,
anything that you want to talk about, and I have
a pretty good idea what you were going to talk about.
We were thinking certain actions probably had to be taken,
and we weren't sure when they were going to be taken,
but some of it was certainly decisive. I guess you
can take the floor here Dan, I'm I'm looking to hear.
I'm looking to hear what you want to talk about.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So, since we haven't gotten to it already on
the podcast, and I thought that we might save this
one for last, I got to talk about the situation
at Virginia Tech. Yeah. I'm surprised and pleased that Virginia
Tech show that there there were a serious program today,
and by one o'clock this afternoon, Brent Pry had been fired.
I think that's the right move. I think that it
had to happen when you go zero to three to
start a season and you don't look particularly competitive. Like
the way I've described it to friends is like in
the fourth quarter of all three of these games, it
hasn't been a close game and the opposing team has
been winning by multiple scores. That's a really bad sign,
I would say. In the like the South Carolina game,
I saw a lot of effort and not a lot
of quit from the players, which was good to see.
But in the last two games, the second half and
the fourth quarter against Vanderbilt, the team seemed to give
up the rope. In yesterday's game against Old Dominion, there
was not at times during the game especially in the
second half, we didn't see a lot of effort from
the guys. I think that that's really concerning because it
just points to the fact that maybe the players have
given up on this coach. So that's definitely not something
you want to see in week three of a season.
And if I was the athletic director of Virginia Tech,
it's something that would make me very concerned. And I'm
not sure exactly like when the decision was made. I'm
guessing some people had some calls late at night last night,
But I'm glad to see that they made the decision
quickly to make a change, because I think the change
was sorely needed. But in Virginia Tech, there's a lot
that's needed here. We need a new athletic director, and
I'm not exactly sure how that's going to play out
to get a new one, especially having to switch your
head coach coach and having to become to a decision
on a new head coach probably sometime early in December.
I think that's going to be difficult while at the
same time trying to bring in a new athletic director.
And I do think a new athletic director is going
to come in. And I say that because in the
notice of Virginia Tech put out there saying that Brent
Prye had been relieved of his duties, it was signed
by the university president. It was not signed by the
athletic director. And that tells me pretty clearly that the
athletic director right now is not the one making the decisions.
It's the university president, it's the board of visitors. So
my guess, we've got a lot of new faces going
to be coming into the program here over the course
of the next year. New athletic director, new head football coach.
I think we're going to see a lot of turnover
in the roster. I'd imagine a new head coach brings
in his guys, and at this point, I'm thinking it
will probably be a G five head coach that's coming in.
It probably brings a lot of his roster with him.
I think we're going to lose a lot of the
faces that are on the roster today by the end
of the year. So it's just there's going to be
a whole lot of turnover in Virginia Tech football and
in the Virginia Tech Athletic direct department. But honestly, I
think it's what the school needs. I think the school
needs a new identity. I think it's time to like
really establish a new identity post Frank Beemer because we're
now ten years in and two had football coaches in
and that identity still hasn't shown up. So I think
that's a big concern. And on top of that, I
think the investment in football has to be there. I
think the passion for football and the interest for football
is definitely there at Virginia Tech, but not the full
investment that you need even at the ACC level for
football hasn't been there. So I think there's just got
to be a whole new plan, a bunch of new faces,
and I think it's we're basically starting from square one
at this point. All the goodwill and brand value that
had been built up during the Frank Beamer era is
not there anymore. So it starts time to start back
at square one and see what type of football program
we can build for Virginia Tech in the twenty first century,
because everything that we had built before this is basically
all the way gone at this point.
Speaker 2: One of the things that I thought was weird, Dan,
I'm just going to ask you a follow up here,
since you talked a lot there, and I've heard a
lot of the stuff that you've heard, But I've read
some things about how a count, a committee, a council,
if you will, will be the entity that selects the
next coach, and that with Babcock is not part of that.
And so it's that's kind of a weird way. I
don't want to say it's a weird way, right because
I think like we knew that was never going to
select another coach. I think we knew that, But it
seems weird that he's still kind of in that position
yet this council is hiring somebody that it looks like
he might have to work with. Obviously, we know some
things haven't been announced yet, right because at the end
of the day, the president is the one who hires
the hires these people. Right. But and you're right that
you know he made that announce he made that announcement
and things like that, But it just seems I don't know,
if you know, does my question make sense? It just
seems a little bit odd to me.
Speaker 4: I think it's bizarre. It's not the way you want
to go into a search because you're not going to
make any bold moves by making a choice by committee.
I think all of us have been part of choices
by committee, and it's you always end up with a
compromised choice, not necessarily the choice that you feel like
in your gut is the right one. Sometimes you've got
to compromise to get everyone to reach a decision. I
think with Babcock having input is weird too, because I'm
sure he even feels that he's on the way out,
so you don't know what kind of input you're gonna
get from him. And I'm I'm not suggesting he's going
to sabotage the process, but who knows where his mind's
at in terms of like selecting a new football coach.
Here the whole thing seems weird to me. It's not
the way that I would approach a search, But at
this point, I think the whole thing is so messed
up that they're just trying to find a way to
get through it. And at this point, I mean, like,
you're not gonna let wit make that decision. We don't
have a new athletic director and at this point we
don't have any other choice than basically a selection committee
to come up with a new head coach. I mean
it's I don't love it, but it doesn't mean that
it won't work. It's just not an ideal scenario for
picking a new head coach.
Speaker 2: I agree with all that I mean and do, and like,
I'll just ask a follow up here. Do we know
for sure that he's going to have that bad cops
gonna have in put? Or is he just sitting on
the side, Well, the committee makes that recommendation to the president,
because that part wasn't exactly clear to me.
Speaker 4: It's not clear to me either, But I'm speculating that
he'll have input and a member.
Speaker 2: Of that Oh, I don't think so. I don't think so, Dan,
you get two chances, that's it, that's all.
Speaker 4: They wouldn't be you would in the room.
Speaker 2: These are no I he's he's pat. He's pat. He
may had the envelope for something to to to the president,
but I don't believe that he has a third shot.
Nobody gets a third shot. I have not seen anybody
get a third shot as an eighty I or a
football coach. Dan ever, you know, I mean, I just don't.
I don't see it happening. Maybe maybe I have a
maybe I've maybe I'm exaggerating, but I I I think,
I think I think that he's I think it's kind
of like you said, like they're trying to figure out
what to do with him and what the best way
it is to announce what's going to happen with him
and all that stuff. And you know, you probably have
a situation where people are, you know, where you have,
you know, certain limitations for buyouts and all that stuff,
and if you buy somebody out later in the year,
costs less or whatever. But I don't I don't believe,
I mean, I don't believe that Virginia Tech would give
him a third involvement in any third selection process if it
makes sense what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: So, what you're saying is he'll have input, but not
beyond the committee that makes a decision.
Speaker 2: I'm not even sure that he'll have If he has
any input, it'll be like where are you going? Where
I might where am I delivering the committee's advice?
Speaker 4: Got it?
Speaker 2: I kind of got the sense that he wasn't really
going to have any input into that, and that he
was not part of that committee, you know what I
mean making the you know, because it's not I get
the sense that he's not going to have any any
any selection advice this time, this time, this time around
on the football coach, because of the last two of
the last two times, right, I mean, we've we've talked
about this before. But you know, the first hire, I thought,
you know, the I thought, you know, the media generally,
and the and his peers, his athletic director peers, his
coaching you know, the coaching peers thought Fante was a good,
good choice. Hell I even I did. It just didn't
work out. But the second time around, that's when that's when,
that's when that's when you get you know, more of
your your choices and stuff like dad exam and stuff
like that. And that clearly did not that clearly did
not go well. If you saw our our buddy right
from the Tech from the Tech Lunch, for the Tech
Lunch pail, Tim Thomas, he wrote this article. I thought
it was just an amazing summary of the of the
Brent print prior era. And yeah, I recommend that everybody
go out there and read that. But I my sense
here Dan and Jeff is that we're in a position
where that Virginia Tech is an efficient position in the
eighties pretty much not any in an advice and consen
sort of format format. It sounds weird for me to
say that, but that's kind of where he's at in
terms of the selection process with the football I don't
I just don't think it's happening.
Speaker 4: I mean, one thing I think is pretty clear at
this point is by next academic year, we're gonna have
a new athletic director. So it seems very clear to
me the regardless of what happens with hiring a new
football coach this year, there's going to be somebody else
in leadership for the athletic department starting next July when
that person gets hired. When that person gets announced, I'm
not sure, but I'm pretty confident that's gonna happen.
Speaker 2: I would I would hope that something like that would happen.
I guess my sense is that, like generally Dan, Dan
and Jeff and I know you've seen this. I mean, like,
if you hire an AD, I would really want that
person to be the person who's going to hire the
football coach. So if they have an idea who that
AD is going to be, and they're getting that person's input,
that would be the the A plus sort of lane,
I think right.
Speaker 4: I just don't know that that they have that person
identified yet, and if they do, I hope that they're
having conversations behind the scenes. Yes, I'm just not sure
that that they're that far along at this point.
Speaker 2: Fair enough, fair enough Open microphone number two. I'm gonna
use this as a question Dan as a question today.
He give me two to three names. If you got more,
I'll take him. Who's on your who's on your list
for coaching hires at Virginia Tech today? I'm ready to
hear a name.
Speaker 4: I'll start by taking people off the list, right, Michael Vick,
I'm not ready for it. He hasn't shown enough as
a head coach to give a power for program too.
I know the fans love him and they bring a
lot of excitement, and you might get that Dion Sanders effect.
I just don't think that that would be a pick
that would work out. Next name I want to take
off the list is Shane Biemer. A. I don't see
him voluntarily leaving an SEC program to come to Blacksburg. B.
I don't think he wants to follow on his dad's
footsteps here, and nor do you do I feel like
he has a strong desire to clean up the mess
that is Virginia Tech. So you can take both of
those names off your list right now. Who I would
want is like a really strong group of five head coach.
You got Bob Chazz and the up at JMU, that'd
be a strong choice. I think Todd Mounkin, the Army
head coach, that would be a strong choice. I think
there's a lot of really strong group of five head
coaches that that have head coaching experience and have shown
good results at the group of five level that could
come in and do a good job at Virginia Tech.
I honestly like I know that we've we've done a
couple post mortems here with the fans on head coaches.
I don't think the selection of Justin Flente was necessarily
a bad selection. I think he had head coaching experience,
he did a good job at Memphis. I just think
he didn't have the personality to make it work out
at Virginia Tech. And also there were some football program
issues that maybe caused him to struggle too. But I
don't think that was necessary a bad selection. It just
didn't work out. The Brett Price selection there's a lot
of questions that can be asked as to why he
got chosen, and I don't think that's me Monday morning
quarterbacking it. Even at the time, even back in December
twenty twenty one, I had a lot of questions as
to why that was the guy, and those questions never
really got answered. So yeah, I mean, but like what
I would be looking for is like real head coaching experience,
proven track record at the group of five level. I
think there's a lot of coaches that could check the
boxes there, people who feel like they're solid recruiters. A
bonus would be people who have recruited this region of
the country, like in the mid Atlantic region, like the
North Carolina South Carolina region. I think that's exactly what
you'd be looking for, and I think there's a lot
of names out there that would check a lot of
boxes in that criteria.
Speaker 2: What about Alex's goal ish from the University of South Florida.
Speaker 4: I mean, he's an early name that has produced really good,
strong results this season. I mean, he seems pretty innovative.
I've seen some nice play calls from him in the
first couple of weeks this year. But I'd like to
see how the rest of the season plays out, just
because sometimes we've got a hot name in September and
their teams fall off. But yeah, if USF has a
really strong season, I think that's one that you'd want
to have on your radar.
Speaker 2: I'd certainly have him on my radar only because here's
my here's my thing, and you're right, he should. He
needs to keep winning. I think he will. He seems
like he's said, he seems like he's got that git factor.
But you gotta see the whole the whole season fall wrong.
But Dan, he recruited to Ames, Iowa, right, and that's
a hard place to recruit to, right, and bringing in
talent to and you know, and recruit but recur. I
guess what I'm saying is recruiting in rural environments, winning
rural environments, and that's that kind of thing. He might
be a good fit. He might be a good fit
in Blacksburg, you know. So I keep that. I just
keep that. I mean, I love the names you mentioned
so far, but I would certainly keep that one on
my back radar because I think I feel I feel
like he's I feel like he's just got that in factor.
If that makes sense what I'm saying. But we'll see,
you know, I think he go ahead, sir.
Speaker 4: I would just say, though, with coaches like that, with
coaches that are off to a strong start this year,
just watch what they do throughout the season. Just don't
fall in love with with results that you see in
the first couple of weeks, because sometimes it's school's goal.
But yeah, I mean, like, I like what I've seen
from him. The fact that he lost in a big
game against Miami, Like Miami's really good this year. I
don't think that that's necessarily a negative. But I would
definitely see how they performed the rest of the year.
But if I if I was on that committee, he's
a name that it would be early on my radar
for guys to look at.
Speaker 2: Definitely definitely, Jeff Friend, you're up. You get to crow. Jeff,
you get to crow. I'm ready to hear it. You
get to be happy.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it was. It was a good day. If
you're a Georgia Tech fan, you know one thing, and
then watching you know, as that outsider on what's going
on in Virginia Tech, I mean, it reminds me of
so much, especially you know, the the end of the
Jeff Jeff Collins era. You know, I saw the comment
that Brent Pyr made yesterday about what what did he say, like,
I see our team making strides or something like that,
something to that effect, and you know, it kind.
Speaker 2: Of reminded me of strid is a program.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it reminded me of you know, some of the
delusional things Collins would put out in statements at the
end of his tenure. And you know, there there was
a certain point during the lowest points of that tenure.
I think he finished the year with Notre Dame in
Georgia one year and was outscored one hundred to zero.
And there was a point yesterday, you know, after giving
up thirty four straight to Vanderbilt in the second half
and then we're down like twenty eight to zero whatever
it was to old dominion that it was some kind
of you know, fifty three to zero streaked and you know,
you just know when it's time, when the coach has
like lost his team and his players, and to know,
these turnarounds can be pretty fast with the right hire,
I mean, as soon as it's key, and of course
you don't always expect it, but you know, Georgia Tech
is now ranked in both poles for the first time
in a in a decade. I think they got ranked
in one poll last year. Coming off the victory yesterday,
it can turn around fast, and I think it can
turn around relatively fast at a place like Virginia Tech
if the right, if the right higher is made. A
couple of other things. I want to look at the
schedule next week. It's got a bunch of intriguing games,
and I wish we could get into each each one
of them. But looking ahead to next week as well,
you got SMU playing at TCU. SMU took that that
double over, that overtime loss to Baylor where they led
by fourteen with five minutes left in the game, and
this is a chance that we're kind of a you know,
put their put their season kind of back on track.
Speaker 2: Yea to Jeff. Yeah that oh my god. They're ran
like five blocks from each other. They hate each other.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's good. That's a fun rivalry game there,
and I really want to see if SMU can kind
of right the ship against TCU, who we saw them.
Last time we really saw them was you know, when
they were throttling North Carolina on Labor Day also kind
of you know, look at North Carolina now going to
UCF later in that day after what happened to them,
and you know they've started to, you know, on paper,
play a little bit better a couple of overmatched opponents,
and now we're I think against UCF, we're going to
find out if they're starting to turn the corner. Another
one of those big twelve ACC matchups that you know,
the ass you know needs these non conference results. I mean, fortunately,
if if you're Miami in Florida State, you already have
you know, those kind of signature wins you know it
needed to get into the playoff. If they take care
of business, you know, Miami is gonna end up having
played Florida, South Florida and Florida, you know, and Florida
State will have that. You can't take away that win
of what they did against Alabama and finishes the year
with with Florida as well. But you know, from a
conference point of view, you know, when it comes to
the rankings or if potentially maybe a third team could
sneak in there, you know you're gonna need some of
the conference to start winning more of these P four games.
You know, then you go into the to the evening
time and you've got Stanford in Virginia, which now is
suddenly a lot more of an intriguing game than anyone
would have expected. Stanford knocking off Boston College. A lot
of people had Stanford, you know, it's one of the
two or three worst P four teams in all of
college football. But if you were watching them closely, you
know they're not talented, and then they really struggle at quarterback.
But you kind of felt like, hey, you know they
can micro Ford, they can on the ball a little bit.
You know, maybe they could spring an upset along the way.
But whoever lose to them, that's that's going to be
a disastrous loss. And that's what exactly happened to Boston
College this past weekend, going down to Stanford, who are
playing a resurgent Virginia team. You know, I think they're
quietly a very a very improved team. And another acc
game that I've gotten my is n C State playing
at Duke. Duke's reeling here a little bit. You know,
they got thumped by Illinois, never were really in a
game with Tulane, even though it was only a one
score game. And NC State's been one of the you know,
under the radar ACC teams that started the year three
and oh, I mean they could you know they go
to Duke.
Speaker 2: When they come to play Notre Dame potentially.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that that is a team to keep an eye on.
You know, I think right now Florida, I mean Florida State,
Miami and Georgia Tager kind of get in the bulk
of the headlines, but you know, just under the surface,
you know, you got cal who's playing at San Diego State.
You know, in a game that you know they're not
going to sneak up on anyone. You got NC State
going to do. Those are two teams with good young
quarterbacks that that are flying under the radar that you know,
in a sea of you know where the middle of
the ACC to the bottom is struggled. Those are two
teams that have kind of you know, broken out from
the middle of the pack and been really pleasant surprises. So,
I mean there's a ton of games this this upcoming
weekend that you know, it might not be those marquee
type games other than the Miami in Florida, but a
lot of intrigue in this upcoming.
Speaker 2: Week definitely, definitely. Well, I'll tell you that I am
really looking forward. I was telling Dan this before we
started this show. I'm looking forward to a Lot and
Order Criminal Intent Toronto. It's gonna start on the twenty
fourth of September, and I'm going to be sitting by
my TV watching that, hearing, hearing all these neighborhoods because
I've been to Toronto a couple of times. Now, I'll
be I'll be able to recognize all these neighborhoods in
Toronto now when they're talking about them on talking about
them on the show. So I will be catching that.
I will be catching that. Hell, heck, I might even
blog about it on the site here because we have
pop culture on the site here too. Dan, thank you
so much for joining us on the All Sports Discussion
ACC podcast and spending your Sunday night with us on
the longest running independent ACC podcast in the country. We
really appreciated you come on the show, and we'd love
to have you come on the show again sometime.
Speaker 4: Dane, I appreciate it. Always love chopping it up with
you guys. I hope next time I have nicer things
to say about Virginia Tech. But this is always a
good time
Speaker 2: All right, Take care and have a great week.