Speaker 1: H h.
Speaker 2: Hello.
Speaker 3: 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 or x at
Talking Sports. That's at Yeah, K I M A C
C S P O R t S. Your podcast moderator
is made Matthew and you can follow follow them on
Twitter winter at All. That's that's I L L L
S C O O P S D A c C.
All right, right, we're gonna go ahead and not speaking.
Speaker 4: Yeah, meet yourself when you're not speaking, because that will
help out with interference.
Speaker 2: Hey, this is Matthew here.
Speaker 4: Awesome, we have one of our great return guests here tonight.
Welcome to this week in the ACC. A. J. Black
is here with us. He's a Boston graduates of and
he's also the owner and operator of Eagles Insider. This
is the Boston College Athletics two four seven seven two
four seven sports site. It's not affiliated with the university,
so of course mister Black has a lot of freedom.
So before we go on, a J I give you
a little bit of a plug there. I want to
make I think we got everything accurate there, but if
there's anything else that we had that you like to
plug here. Please do tell us about yourself too and
any special features that you have going on.
Speaker 2: Now, thanks again for spending your Sunday.
Speaker 5: Thanks for having me on, guys. Yeah it's you. Guys
did a great job of introducing me. Thank you so much. Yeah,
I'm the host of Lockdown BC. If you want to
listen to some depressing sports news, please come on over.
BC basketball is absolutely atrocious. BC football hasn't won a
football game against an FBS school this season, so the
the conversations have been I try not to make them dreary.
I've had a lot of fun with some of the
things that we've talked about, but it's been tough.
Speaker 4: The hockey will.
Speaker 2: It's a good, it's a good.
Speaker 5: They're usually go right, sorry, there a j there we go. Thanks, Sorry,
just keep getting muted. Yeah, the bat the hockey team
is definitely playing pretty well. They split with number ten
Main this weekend, which was a big series for them.
But yeah, it's other than that, it's been a tough,
tough fall for about Boston College athletics.
Speaker 2: All right, sir, with which and which which?
Speaker 5: All Right, I'm gonna go with the most disappointing team
being Florida State. I thought that they were going to
get their chance to get into a bowl with a
win over n C State, and my gosh, n C
State kept giving them chances over and over again to
get back in that football game, and Florida State would
just not take it. So I thought the Seminoles, you know,
their offense looked completely broke in again, which, as someone
who's covered Boston College could tell you that you're gonna
get those games with Tommy Castle lines where things just
don't work, was not working at n C State. So
now you know, I know that they've taken some step forward,
but now they're you know, they've got to beat Florida
to get into a bowl game, but Florida looks awful too,
so that that could be going either way. But I
think the biggest disappointment for them is the fact that
the fact that Mike Norvel is coming back, because it
sounds like Florida State just doesn't want to pay him,
which is crazy for a school that you know, talks
about that talks a big talk about how you know,
they're an upper echelon team, but they're not going to
do the things that other big, big time schools will do.
So I I go, I go with Florida State this weekend.
Speaker 2: Fair enough, Jeff, you're up friend?
Speaker 3: All right? A j which ACC team did you have
as the as the most impressive team and to go
back to that disappointing team? I mean this hurts me
as a as a Georgia Tech guy. I mean I
was I was crushed at the performance by Georgia Georgia
Tech this past weekend. Yeah, they just they weren't prepared,
they weren't ready. After three weeks or two weeks of
playing really terrible defense against NC State and then you know,
I know, I know BC's had their struggles, but they
look great against Georgia Tech and then you come out
against Pitt and you're down twenty eight zero, you know,
before the second quarter is getting going with so much
on the line. I was definitely disappointed in Georgia Tech.
You know, who did you have?
Speaker 1: Is that inm.
Speaker 5: Aj I'm gonna go with SMU this weekend. I know
Louisville was playing without Miller Moss. They played, you know,
they were missing a bunch of different guys on their offense,
but that was the most complete game I think I've
seen out of SMU all season. You know, Kevin Jennings
threw for three hundred and three yards three touchdowns. You know,
Jordan Hudson looked great. Their defense held Louisville to six points.
This was a battle of two teams that really wanted
to solidify themselves in the ACC, and I thought SMU
looked fantastic. And to kind of jump into what you
said earlier, I also want to put Pitt on there
because they you know, they handled a potential comeback excuse
me against Georgia Tech, but they looked as good as
they can get. And Mason Heischel is quite the quarterback
and they've got a bright future right there and a
chance to go into the ACC championship game.
Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely, really impressive performance by Pitt and in a
really electric environment down there. Bobby Dodd, they they just
came in there with a with a mission. Heinzel was outstanding,
played unbelievable in the first half. And their defense, you know,
as probably was the first defense and probably well over
a year that that you know, really harassed Haines King
and got him playing out of sorts. I mean, they
they were able to do things that you know the
Georgia Bulldogs couldn't do last year and that and that
was to get to Haines King a little bit. So
definitely agreed. Great job by Pitt uh So, AJ, Which
ACC football game are you looking forward to the most
in Week fourteen?
Speaker 5: I mean I would be lying if I didn't say
BC and Syracuse. I'm just kidding. Uh No, I will
say that just to be a little bit honest. I say,
as someone who covers BC, it's a chance for Boston
College and I don't I don't say, I don't say
that anything should happen, but I do think they're a
better team than Syracuse, even though the record doesn't show
it right now, and I think they can beat them,
and it's a big rivalry game, So I would say that.
But man, I am I'm really looking forward to Georgia
Attack and Georgia this weekend. That was my one of
my favorite games I watched all of last year, just
the battle of that. I mean, Haynes King basically took
on Georgia himself and almost came out on top. So
I'm looking forward to a rematch there. I think that
would be a big one that I'm looking forward to
And you know, I look ahead too, and I don't
see a ton of games that really strike my fancy
in terms of ACC games. You know, the other one
I would look at is obviously Miami and Pitt. That
one's gonna be a huge game with ACC championship implications.
There is pit legit and they're a tough team. They're
a really, really tough team, and Miami has not shown
that they have been a mentally tough team this season.
I would really love to see Pitt, you know, at home,
win that game. That would be huge for them, and really,
I think for the conference it would hurt on one
sense because your your major, you know, Marquee team is
not as good as they think they are. But it
would be really cool to see Pitt just kind of
step up and take that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you and you mentioned Syracuse. Ajuh, I just
got to ask, what is friend Bran doing starting Joe Fallardi?
And I mean when don't he like a former walk
on recruit, I mean a former like lacrosse player.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: That has just been one of the worst decisions I've
seen a coach make this year. I mean that he's
getting thrown out there week after week and just absolutely
ill equipped to run a you know, power for team,
and then Notre Dame probably could have scored one hundred
and thirty points on Syracuse. So last year, you know,
Bran Brown's the toast of ACC football, and this year
Steve Angelly goes down and fran Brown.
Speaker 5: Just yeah, you know, I think you know if Jelly.
Speaker 3: If you look, oh, we're looking ahead to Week fourteen,
which ACC team could be upset if they're looking ahead
to a game on their schedule or otherwise sleepwalking on
the field. And if I interrupted what you were about
to say, please go ahead with.
Speaker 5: Your sorry, it kind of cut out there a little bit.
I was gonna say. I think what fran Brown has
done really a nice job is bringing in that like
elite quarterback. You know, he had McCord last year and
now he has and Jelly. But you know, he's put
a few pieces around those guys. He also lucked into
having a lot of talented wide receivers last year that
were coming in from the previous regime. But the part
about fran Brown that really shocks me is that he
came in as a defensive coach and for two straight
years that team has had nothing for defense, and it
showed against Notre Dame. But I expect BC to run
all over them too, because I just don't think they
have They have one of the worst explosive run defenses
in the country, as in, they let up a ton
of explosive runs. I think BC could really put a
hurt in on them. Now for the second question, what
team could be on upset alert this week? You know,
I think I look at one game specifically, and that's
one that seems to always pop up in that's South
Carolina and Clemson. South Carolina has owned Clemson, is it
two games in a row. I think they've beaten them,
and Clemson obviously has not looked that great. To have
them finished six and six would be quite the blow,
especially because I mean, I think we did a show
earlier this year. I came on here and say Clemson
was the toast of the town and they're gonna win
the conference easily, and now they're a middling, barely bowl
eligible team. I think South Carolina has just enough to
win that kind of game. So I look at that
one as they win, and then I also look at
Duke and wake Forest. I love Wake Forest man. What
they have done. You know, with the new head coach
there and uh, you know, winning eight games, potentially nine
if they win this one. I just I just think
this is a game that could come in and sneak
a win, especially since since it's at home.
Speaker 3: Are you very good, Matthew? You said you got to
follow up here?
Speaker 2: I do, I do?
Speaker 4: Ahja, you know there's this other game that's happening at
seven o'clock at ESPN of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Speaker 2: Is this is this?
Speaker 4: Is this a potential trouble spot for the Who's who
are two and twenty three in their last twenty five
versus Virginia Tech. Would you see this as a when
you see this as a potential loss, I mean I
as a hokey. I always think Virginia Tech's gonna win, right,
But I I know that Virginia Tech, you know, has
an interim coach, has substantially less talent than they've had
last year, and a lot of players go through the
set transfer portal probably has a lot of guys that
are in their mindset wondering what's gonna happen with them
next year. Franklin's coming in, There's all these variables and
things like that, but I always think it's gonna happen
when I always think as a hokey that it's gonna happen,
and more often than that, more often than not, I've
been right. I want to get your thoughts on that,
because I haven't really seen the Who's played too much
this year because they've been playing around the same time
as Tech has.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, anything could happen. Obviously, the vibes are
really high right now. Virginia Tech hiring Franklin it was
a great, great move for that that program, and he
seems like a great fit for them. Virginia. Virginia is
really good right now. Obviously they're nine to two. Chandler
Morris has looked really good this year, and then you know,
I thought Tony Elliott did a really nice job in
the portal putting that team together. I don't know if
they have enough bullets in the chamber to win a
game like this, you know what I mean, Like, I
just you know, I know it's a huge rivalry. I
know it's a big battle between these two schools. I
just you know, Virginia needs this win so badly. It's
a home game for them, you know. The ACC championship
is on the line, and I mean, going into this season,
just like everything else than this weird conference, this was
a you know, Tony Elliott was the I think the
hottest team coach on the hot seat going into the season,
and now he's he's gonna be the toast of the town.
So I I like Virginia in this game, but hey,
when a rivalry game happens, anything can can go on
on the field. Who knows, maybe Virginia Tech finds something
that they can exploit on Virginia. I I'm not sure
they're going to be able to do.
Speaker 2: I think you're right. I think you're right.
Speaker 4: I think the Who's will get one, and I think
they'll end up being three out of twenty six. I
think I do think that Who's will get one this year.
There you go, I'm making my pick.
Speaker 3: Jeff all right, I hear you, Matthew h a j
Let's step out of the ACC for a bit here.
Which national, FBS or FCS game are you looking forward
to the most fourteen? And we're wind up wide open.
Speaker 5: For any game this this uh, this this weekend. I'm
always I'm always a sucker for the Iron Bowl. I
will watch that anytime that's on TV. But give me,
you know what, you know what fun game I'm looking
for forward to a this weekend. Give me Vanderbilt in Tennessee, I,
you know, one last time to probably watch Diego Piva
play one more game Vanderbilt. You know, they're on the
verge of going ten and two. And if he wins
that game, Clark lay is gonna have to be a
candidate for some of these new jobs that are opening up,
because to do that at Vanderbilt is what got James
Franklin in his job, but to do it again shows
you what kind of coach he is. So I think
they I think they're gonna go to Nyland Stadium and
beat Tennessee and end up tennant two and be a
playoff team. And that's gonna be crazy.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 3: Our next two segments are our open mic segments, and
we're going to start the first one off AJ. We
call it our guest only open Mike. What's on your
anything you want to talk about?
Speaker 5: All right? So you know you guys have me on.
I gotta talk a little bit about BC football for
a second, because I haven't had a chance to talk
to you guys about that since the beginning of the season.
Disappointing year, and really it's gonna be a fascinating offseason
for the Eagles. I think, as I said earlier, I
think they're gonna beat Syracuse, so that's gonna give them
just a little bit of a mental going into the offseason.
But I do think Bill O'Brien's gonna probably have to
clear house with his coaching staff. I think we're potentially
looking at two new coordinators. I think positional staff. He
brought in a lot of guys that were with Jeff
Haffley because he started late and couldn't get his own guys.
I think a lot of them probably get moved on.
But I also look at the roster. Last year, Bill O'Brien,
basically for the portal, went out and grabbed a bunch
of FCS guys and not even like star FCS guys,
guys that were just kind of developing, and it bit
him in the butt. This year, he's gonna have to
do much better. This team got hurt. It had no
depth and that's why they won one game at this point.
So he's gonna be able to go out there and
get guys that could jump in and play right away.
And he's gonna have to also keep the guys that
are gonna you know, you know, could enter the portal too.
So this is gonna be a crazy offseason for Boston College.
It's been really depressing and to pair it up with
a basketball team that, honestly, I'm gonna say it on
my podcast tomorrow, Earl Grant needs to be fired in
the next week or so. Like he's terrible, Like the
what he's doing with this program. There the ability to
shoot a basketball, run a coherent offense. He doesn't understand
the flow of the game. He can't really diagnose plays
very well or drop graft up plays. It's just his
rotations are terrible. You had Donald Hand who's shot like
six of like fifty from three point range. He just
keeps letting him watch him. It's just been a really
lousy time. But I think for BC, and this is
the big thing because I see all the oh BC
should be removed from the ACC blah blah blah. They
have a president, father Lahy, right now, who is about
as lukewarm on sports as it gets, and he is
retiring at the end of this year, but starting in January,
his replacement father Jack Butler. He starts up and Father
Jack Butler has been with the football team as the
team chaplain and is a huge athletics proponent, and he
takes over. This could be a big moment in BC
history because I think this new president could change the
future of BC and how they view and spend for
this program to make them a winning program. I think
Father Jack Butler could be the biggest acquisition BC football
in BC basketball lands all year.
Speaker 3: All right, Matthew, I'm gonna turn it over to you
for our last segment in this podcast.
Speaker 2: Excellent, excellent take their ajs. So you've kind of teed
me up.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna use my open mike as a follow up
question for you, and then you can also talk about
whatever you want. But my follow up question then for
you is who's on your list for next BC men's basketball? Oh?
Speaker 5: Man, I honestly I do more covering the football team,
so I don't even know who. I would say, like,
who's the guy from Central Connecticut? He was someone I
was watching sellers. I think his last name was guy
can run a sick defense, So he was someone I
was looking at. But honestly, I honestly don't know, but
what BC. What I will say this is that BC
has to get a new head coach that can sell
the program because they have for the last two coaches
that they've hired, Earro Grant and Jim Christian, they were underwell.
When they first hired them, everyone was like, who are
these guys? Steve Donahue didn't work out, but at least
he had back to back sweet sixteen runs when he
came in. He just just wasn't the right fit. So
they gotta pay. That's the big thing. And that's what
I think Father Jack is gonna have to play a
big role here, is because BC cannot cheap out and
just you know, go to the bottom of the a
SEC and how much they spend they need to pay
for head coach and they need someone who's gonna be
able to raise money for n A L stuff because
BC is woeful in that right now?
Speaker 4: Fair enough, fair enough? What do you got for your
open mic? You got a second one here, Ian J.
Speaker 5: I have second one. I already kind of went on
my tangent man.
Speaker 3: Transfer.
Speaker 5: Well, yeah, I'm very curious to see how many BC
players end up in the portal for football, and I
go back to the people that are complaining about that.
You know, you see it online, right the people that
are like, oh, it's gonna be a mass exos, well,
your team was one and eleven. Who cares if there's
some Max exodus. Get talent here, because it clearly it's
not there right now. But I will say this, BC
got hammered with injuries. A lot of the guys that
got hurt, especially on the defense on the side of
the ball, where BC was atrocious. Many of those guys
were projected to cycle out after this year. They can
now red shirt guys like Bam Crouch, who was, you know,
their leading tackler from last year. He played three games
this year. He could come back. You got guys like
Amari Jackson, who is your starting cornerback for multiple years.
He could come back a little bit. Glimmer hoped some
of that talent could really infuse with some depth from
the portal. You could see BC maybe making some moves there.
Speaker 2: Fair enough, Fair enough, Jeff, you're up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're getting into those preseason conference tournaments in college basketball.
So I just want to hit on a couple things.
It's been a pretty solid start for the ACC especially
considering the last couple of years. But also there's been
some disappointments. There's been a bunch of Power Conference games
that have gone down to the wire that the ACC
team couldn't close out, and you know, they've got to
start turning the corner on some of those if they
if they want to be the league, I think that
has the potential to you know, to be and I'm talking,
you know, a nine or a ten bid league. They
need to start closing out some of those games. But
I don't think there's any question they're going to get
more than the four or five they've had the last
couple of years. But whether that ceiling number is six
or seven or nine or ten, and it's going to
depend on these pre conference tournament results. But you look
down the schedule, Duke outstanding, Louisville outstanding. Those are two
teams that are capable of getting into the final four.
North Carolina is very good. I think smu Is you know,
is really good as well. They have a really nice
win over Butler. Virginia Tech is really impressed here in
the early season, and today Clemson kind I think they
made a statement this weekend down in Charleston, knocking off
West Virginia and then today, you know, if you were
following Clemson at all, the question was, you know, did
they have enough offensive firepower to kind of match you know,
a Brad Brennell team that looks pretty physical inside. His
team's usually played pretty good defense. And they ran with
Georgia today and knocked them off in overtime. And I
think you'll see Georgie is one of the better offensive
teams you'll see this year. So I now put Clemson
in that category of ACC teams that looks like they
can get to an NCAA tournament. If we're talking six, seven,
eight bids, I think Clemson is there in that category.
And there haven't been as many of those by game
losses than we've seen in the past. I know Pittsburgh
lost to Quinnepac today and Jeff Cable's probably on the
mega hot seat at Boston College is kind of struggling
here out of the gate unfortunately. AJ We've already talked
about that. But those are the only two teams in
the ACC that I think have really struggled to start
the season. So you've got another fifteen or another nine
ten teams and see who can come out of that
out of that pack to get in there, but pretty solid.
I would give it a pretty solid start for the
ACC with still some room room to improve if they
can close out some of these non conference games where
the middle of the pack has kind of missed on
a few opportunities. But Clemson this weekend was definitely one
team that kind of turned the corner on that knocking
off West Virginia and Georgia and what you want to
win the Charleston Class.
Speaker 4: Sixty, Well, here's one game I'm looking forward to right
December seventh, that Sunday, Georgetown.
Speaker 2: Substantially improved.
Speaker 4: Georgetown, by the way, goes on the road to North
Carolina and they played and they Georgian. The Hoyas have
probably have the best defensive team I've seen in this city,
and I've been here quite a while now, probably the
best defensive team I've seen in DC in a long time,
I think over ten years.
Speaker 2: It's there.
Speaker 4: They're playing some of the best defense I've seen on
the Hilltop in years. And they went on the road
and beat Maryland and they and guys they a j
I know and Jeff, I know you know this. Maryland
and Georgetown haven't played each other in years and and
there was perhaps bad blood between the two programs, and
it's about recruiting and all this stuff.
Speaker 2: Georgetown went on the road.
Speaker 4: To College Park and won that game, and then, of
course Jeff knows they they defeated Clemson earlier this year.
I'll be interested to see how North Carolina handles that
kind of on the ball pressure, that kind of defense.
It's gonna be a fun game. It's gonna be It's
gonna be a fun game because the first thing the
hoy Is are gonna try to do is they're gonna
try to slow down North Carolina.
Speaker 3: That you can't.
Speaker 4: You can't let North Carolina get into a transition game,
otherwise you're in deep trouble. And if they get into
a slow game with North Carolina, it's gonna it's it's
gonna be a it's gonna be interesting watch.
Speaker 2: It's one game.
Speaker 4: I have circled down my calendar and have everything, everything
on the ship, everything put to the side for those
couple of hours to take a look at that one.
Speaker 2: But that's it.
Speaker 4: Well, guys, thank you so much, AJ Black, thank you
for joining us on this Sunday and evening on the
All Sports discussion ACC podcast.
Speaker 2: We loved having you come on the show. Thank you
for spending your Sunday evening with us, and we'd.
Speaker 5: Love to have you come on again Sunday. All right,
every great week.