Speaker 1: Hello, Welcome to this week in the Atlantic Coast Conference,
the podcast for All Sports Discussion dot com. This is
Jeff and you can follow me on Twitter or X
at talkin' a c C Sports. That's at T A
L K I N A c C S P O
r T S. Your podcast moderator is Matthew and you
can follow him on Twitter or 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
gonna turn it over to Matthew now as we get
the podcast started.
Speaker 2: Oh man, how you doing, Jeff?
Speaker 1: Good good?
Speaker 2: I have a question for you. I have a cold, okay,
but I haven't. Usually when I get sick, I get
full board bronchitus, or at the worst case scenario, I
get COVID. Right, I usually never get colds. When you
were sick, when you were sick, like a couple a
week or two ago or whatever it was, did you
have a cold or what did you have?
Speaker 1: I would say I had a garden variety cold. I
had a like a tickle in my throat for like
a day, and it made my throat itchy for like
a few days after that, where I kind of coughed
a little bit, but never no aches, no pains, no
no sinus stuffiness, no head pressure, nothing, nothing like that.
I was felt like an old timey little twenty four
hour cold.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, because I have a cold and i have
congestion and stuff like that, and I'm not even sure
I've had this since twenty eighteen? Do you know what
I mean? Sort of thing. I mean, it's kind of crazy.
I mean, I suppose people get sick when they start
going back, you know, into the office and getting exposed
to the elements and stuff like that, right, you know,
So I think that's probably I think that's what I have.
I don't have because I'm not coughing, I'm not doing
anything like that. Probably means I'm not getting enough sleep.
So that's what's happening with me because I'm not I'm
feeling like I mean, I think my voice sounds fine here, right,
you know, I does it like when I was on
here once before when I had COVID, and I think
I it sounded like I was tripping along in pain, right,
But I was a tripper. But I'm feeling a lot
I'm feeling. That's kind of how I'm feeling right now.
So that's I'm hoping. I'm hopeful that I if I
get like twelve hours sleep, then I'll knock it out.
But that's kind of where I'm at, man, So let's
get right to it, man. I mean, we've got the
FCS semi Finals coming next week. Jeff. You were one
hundred percent correct going with all your picks last week.
You didn't take a whole lot of risks, right, A
whole lot of chalk there, right. But I mean this week,
and I would say this, I'm actually very serious about this.
I thought about this like deeply this afternoon, Jeff. This
may be the best final four in the FCS that
I've ever seen ever. And that's a pretty strong statement, right.
You know, this upcoming week, number three South Dakota State
visits number two, and you that is a situation where
eleven of the last twelve national championships have come from
those two teams from the FCS. Number four, South Dakota
visits number one Montana State. And I think that these
are these are much harder picks, Jeff, because you know,
I I think, I legit think any four of these
ting teams can state a clay can state a case
to win the national title. You know this is you
know the Jack. The Jacks are gonna want a piece
of NDSU because DYSU beat him in the first game
this year in Fargo, Dom thirteen to nine. The second
one might or might not be easier to pick. But
the Coyotes have a legit, legit defense at South Dakota
For people who don't know this, Coyotes that gonna challenge
the Bob got Bobcats right, that the number one seed,
number one team all year, Montana State Bobcats, who also,
by the way, has a head coach who was the
offensive coordinator during all of the NDIAS Bison championship runs, right,
Brent Megan, So, like I was saying, when you got
a two verses three and one versus four, and I
think it's even I mean, it's even really more the
case this year you have four teams who can legitimately
state their case to win the national title. So Jeff,
prior to the season, now, shout out to you, shout
out to both of us. I picked South Dakota State.
I picked South Dakota State to win the national title.
You know I I I felt like they had everybody back,
you picked NDSU to win the national title. Both of
those teams are going at each other, and of course,
then like I said, South Dakota State goes on the
road to play at Montana State. I want I want
you to give me the winners of those two games, Jeff,
and then I want you to I want you to
tell me who's gonna win the national title because this
is a honestly, it's it's hard. So I'm I'm ready
for I'm ready to hear what you gotta say, Jeff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're definitely the uh the expert here, Matthew. So
I'm just gonna stay with with with how I last started,
and I'm gonna still say NDSU advances. I think they're
gonna win it all no other reason than just their
reputation and they've been in this game, they know how
to win in the playoffs. Gonna keep going with them.
And then I'm gonna say that NDSU is gonna play
Montana State, and like I said, NDSU win it at all.
I'm not gonna change my pick now.
Speaker 2: Okay, I think that South Dakota State is gonna beat NDISU.
I'll take that now. I haven't waivered on that. I
think Montana State is gonna be South Dakota, and I
think Montana State is gonna win the national title. I
think Brent Megan will get his first national titles. So
I am going to backtrack on one of these games
here because I think Brent Meagan is going to bring
one back home. And then Jeff, you can correct me
if I'm wrong. You're the expansion guy, right, You're more
so than me. I think all four of these teams
could stay claim probably to go together if they wanted
to go to the Mountain West. What do you think
about that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think anything's wide open, uh out there in
the Mountain West, the PAC twelve, everything that they're doing
out there, and I think that would actually be a
good idea for them to go it as a block
because they, you know, up there in those regions, they're
recognizable names. I mean, everybody knows n DSU in recent years,
South Dakota. I mean you're you're aware of those programs
Montana State and you know when they're on TV, you
know people people, Yeah, they get eyeballs. The people know
them as big winners, you know, at the level they're at.
And if they go out West and I don't expect
the quality of their football to drop off, maybe the
win totals, but uh, I think that that would be
a smart thing for them to do, to go to
go as a block. I think there's more negotiating power
and there's a you know, an opportunity too, you know,
work the kind of deal that would enable them to
go ahead and move up. You know, if they go
as a block, if they go with as a single entity,
I think it becomes a lot more difficult.
Speaker 2: And you know who I think they'd take with them, Jeff,
Montana and North Dakota. You'd have six go at the
same time. And I think and you're absolutely right. You know,
if you go as a as a group of schools,
you then have travel partners, you have all that sort
of thing which is important if you're when you're up there, man,
which is kind of really important when you're up there.
So let's go on, Let's go on to a CC
football you're ready, Jeff, I guess, all right, buddy, which
a c C Bowl game are you looking forward to
most this year? Let me just give you buying first,
if you don't mind, I'll I'll give you buying because
I'm probably gonna see the answer that a lot of
people are going to say, and that's just like last year,
like the Pop Tarts Bull in Orlando, Florida. I think
that's just gonna be a terrific game between Miami and
Iowa State. Last year it was NC State and Kansas State,
and I think the Pop Tarts Bull is just really
going to be a terrific game. So that's that's the
one I'm looking forward to the most, because there are
two these are pretty much the If I'm not mistaken,
Jeff made these. I haven't you know, I haven't gone
through and done a bull pick yet, but this may
be the highest set of ranking teams meeting in probably
non playoff ball or is that not the case?
Speaker 1: I think so between the two that are that are
in the.
Speaker 2: Game, that's what I was saying. I mean, you got
two ranked teams in there, and that's that's just gonna
be a terrific game. Now, I would say, now all
full disclosure, right, I have not kept track of who
has opted out for either team for that Bowl game, Jeff, Right,
you know, like whether, for example, Miami's quarterback has opted out.
I have not kept track of any of that but
you know, if you you know, if nobody has opted
out yet and all these guys are coming back to
get some playing time here, this becomes a prime matchup
that I one hundred excuse me that I one will
will be watching the.
Speaker 1: Four I'm going to go here with a little personal bias.
And of the non playoff balls, I'm I'm really looking
forward to Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt. This this has the
probably the most underrated QB match up of all the
non playoff Bowls with Diego Pavia Vanderbilt and Haines King
at Georgia Tech. And and I think there's there's a
good bit of excitement from the Georgia Tech side of
things because Haines King will be returning for next year
and he's going to be available in the bowl game
and we're going to get a preview. Now I think
of Georgia Tech, who now many people think, you know,
are going to be one of those contenders to get
to Charlotte next year. And this is not your previous
Vanderbilt teams. We know what they did, you know, knocking
off Vanderbilt early. They played Texas to a two point game.
I mean this, this is you know they went six
and six, but this is a pretty legitimate football team.
And I've seen on like ESPN when they were doing
their prow their bowl previews, they were saying, you know,
Georgia Tech had his you know, as a big a
seven and five season as you could have, and they
said Vanderbilt was had as big as a six and
sixth season as you could have. So you've got a
really tremendous quarterback matchup. You've got two fan bases that
are really excited about, you know, where these programs could
be in the in the future. So that one I'm
I'm really looking forward to.
Speaker 2: Very good, sir, very good. Let's go on here, man.
I mean, and now this next question, I want to
make sure I scope this right, Jeff. We're not talking
about any playoff teams. We're just talking about those that
are in the regular bowls. So that's where the scope
of this next question is going. Which ACC team will
win their bowl unexpectedly? Now, again, we're not talking about
We're not talking about playoffs. You know, those that are
in the playoffs and do better than most expect. And
let's go to the opposite side of the coin here,
who's gonna Choke as the favorite. If we look at
these Bulls at these bowl games between non playoff teams.
Speaker 1: I think there's a really dangerous game, uh out there
for Cal playing U n l V. I mean, they're
not a big favorite, just just a one point favorite
in that game. But I think that U n l
V is a solid football team. Cal. Uh the quarterback
Mendoza has put his name into the portal. I'm not
sure if he's gonna play. I don't expect him to
for Cal, but I think that that's a very dangerous
game for Cal in that one.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: Then if you're looking at you know, teams I I
expect more from Uh. I gotta look here at the
spread between Syracuse and Washington State. I'm not sure who's
the favorite in that game, but I tell you, I
think if I'm looking for a team that is really
gonna come out big in that game, I think Syracuse
that is an you know out there in the Holiday Bowl.
They've had a great season under the first year of
Fran Brown. They they're ranked, you know, in the top
twenty five, and you know, he is just kind of
had a resurgence there of Syracuse football. Their best season
in a number of years since Dino Babers went ten
and three a few years back. And you know, I
wouldn't all be surprised if they win that game by
a couple of touchdowns, because offensively, they are very difficult
to deal with. I mean, they knocked out a high
you know, they played Miami in that game in the
Carrier or the JMA Dome, and you know, everything was
on the line for the Hurricanes, and you know that
offense and we know Miami's defense struggled, you know, but Syracuse,
you know, just had the emotion, the intensity of that
game never let even when they fell behind early twenty
one zero. I really look for Syracuse to play well
against Washington State.
Speaker 2: They will right now. Now, let me run through this.
I'm just gonna run through this for you because I
was on Vegas Insider Jeff, so I want to tell
you what's going on here. The consensus spread right now
for Syracuse in Washington State is eight and a half
points for Syracuse. I mean, they are you know, the
you know, they are fairly confident. The books are fairly
confident that Syracuse is going to win that game. And
so what you're saying is, you know, is correct that
they're probably going to be impressive. What they're saying. The
consensus spread about Yukon and North Carolina is that North
Carolina is favored by two. But you know what, you
know what, you know, you know what, you know what, Jeff,
My sense there is that you've got a head coach
that I mean, I can't remember. Is mac Brown going
to coach in that game? Do we know? He probably is? Right?
Speaker 1: I don't think so.
Speaker 2: I think see this is what I'm I'm thinking here,
like you have this now, whether he coached not or not,
you know from the aar armchair or not, it's probably
what he did. He's mc brown has always been a
CEO coach. But with him not there is that going
to be an issue for North Carolina? Right? Are they?
You know they're missing their grandfather, right, you know? Is
that one where unc could could you know, pretend you
know they've never been said, there've never been anybody who's
cared about defense, right, you know, in the entire background era.
And this is a big opportunity opportunity And we feel
weird saying this, but it's a big opportunity for the
youth for Yukon on the big stage to get away,
and I think that there's a I think there's a
chance that North Carolina could slip up there. Is that
a fair statement?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's it all depends on a level
of motivation. You know, haven't heard if Amarion Hampton. He
said he's he's not returning, but I don't know if
he's going to play in that game or he won't.
You know. Defensively, Uh, North Carolina has been all over
the place this year, but Yukon's played a couple of
ACC teams this year, and you know they I think
they lost both of the games if I'm remembering right,
I think they played uh, Syracuse and Duke and lost
those games. So so North Carolina has more talent than them,
but it's going to be a matter of motivation. And
with Bill Belichick coming in, I mean, if I'm looking
at it like I'm one of the North Carolina players,
you know he's going to be watching that game and
looking at it from a player and talent evaluation, I
would I would try to show out if I were
the North Carolina players because Bill Belichick might have that
you know, Deon Sanders turnover the roster type management style,
so if I'm a North Carolina player, I'm trying to
impress fair enough.
Speaker 2: Now, So here's the other here's my other candidate, and
probably even more likely. NC State is favored by five
over East Carolina. I like East Carolina's coach better, Jeff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't. I don't like this game at all
for North Carolina State. I think it's a really dangerous game.
East Carolina lives to beat ACC teams in particularly Tobacco
road teams, and you know it, but these Bowl games
are typically a matter of motivation and who wants it more.
And you know, East Carolina's gonna treat that game like
their Super Bowl. And I'm I'm I'm very concerned for
NC State in that game. If they're not ready to
go one hundred percent, they they could very easily lose
that game.
Speaker 2: I'm with you one thousand percent, Jeff, I'm with you
one thousand percent. So let's go on the opposite side
of the coin here. No, we actually we did kind
of go over the office that side of the coin.
Who could choked? We did talk about that. Uh, I
am going to run through the ACC Bowl matchups here,
so get you know, give me, just give me, just
a second, Jeff, do I want you to I want
you to do some picking for me. If you're ready.
If you're ready for that, you're ready for the ready
for some We're gonna do the playoffs in a little bit,
but you know we're coming up later on that, so
we'll later. Let's this is kind of a lightning round here.
We got the game above Sports Bowl. This is, in fact,
this is another one I should have checked. Uh, Pitt
is taken on Toledo. Both teams are seven and five
in Detroit, Michigan. This is on the This is really
the uh the first, No, this is the second. I'm sorry,
this is the second ACC Bowl game that's non playoff.
Speaker 1: All right, we're starting with that one. I think I
think Pitt, even though they lost their last five games
of the year. You know, Pat Nardoozy is a hard nose,
tough coach, and I definitely don't think he wants to
finish the season on a six game losing streak, and
I think he's gonna instill that in his team to
come out and take care of business in that one.
Speaker 2: I like Pitt ha really.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I think they're just they're just gonna be
too physical for Toledo, I think hah.
Speaker 2: Or the flip side right that could they could they
could perhaps be dropping off continue there they're driving off
the cliff.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Again, this is like a matter of motivation, and uh,
you know, it's certainly a losable game, you know if
they go in there and treat it like you know,
going through the motions. But I kind of feel like
Nardoozy is not gonna let that happen.
Speaker 2: It has that feel like that to me, only because
I feel like Toledo will have more fans there than Picks,
do you know what I mean? I mean, I just
I have I worry about Pitt, Like if they don't
if they don't get going in that first quarter, jet
for that second quarter, I mean, if they come out
slow out of the gates, they're going to lose that game.
They have to. They have to have a very fast
start against the Leado otherwise they're going to lose that game.
I don't think, right, because they're not a team that
really has fast starts in the second half. Would you say, yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean, you know this has been the Taale, the
Jacqueline Hyde Pitt Panthers. I mean they started out the
year seven and zero had two p four wins, beating
West Virginia and Cincinnati, and then they went down to
SMU and he just you know, it was a complete
collapse since that game. But that's where I think, I
think Nordoozi Is is gonna you know, get them motivated
because and just have them ready. You don't want to
end the season on a six game lose streak. And so,
like I agree with you, it all depends on the start,
and I feel like Pitt is going to start well
in this game and then you know that would get
the competitive juices going, try to salvage something out of
the season about letting it fall off the cliff. Now
if this was I just think they're going to be
too physical for Toledo at the end of the day.
Speaker 2: Fough. Okay, let's go to the next ball game. Birmingham Ball.
Georgia Tech seven and five versus Vanderbilt. Brent Key as I,
as I predicted, got some Coach of the Year votes.
I said before, if he goes seven and five, he's
going to get a few of those votes. He did.
So this is going to be a you know, a
pretty good game. I mean, Georgia Tech is a really
physical team. Vanderbilt has certainly at least reshaped their team
from what it was last year. Beating Alabama, I think
it was a big victory for Vanderbilt. I mean, it's
certainly not a Nick Saban team, but it's still a
you know, a big victory versying versus the name brand.
Georgia Tech had a couple of those big victories this year.
I'm interested in what your pick is here.
Speaker 1: When when Eric Singleton decided to transfer, was Georgia Tech's
number one receiver. I had a concern that that maybe
there could be others to follow at Georgia Tech, which
would have left me favoring Vadnderbilt in this game. But
with Haines King coming back, the backup Filo coming back,
who was young freshman quarterback who had some big moments, uh,
the linebacker, their leading linebacker effort returning, A number of
players came out and said they're not transferring uh over
the weekend, and that that kind of shows you know,
you know, every team out there is going to lose
contributors on their team, and you Singleton is just a
single guy. But by and large, this team looks ready,
you know, to go out there and set the stage
for a big season in twenty twenty five. And I
think Brent Key after that Georgia loss, I mean that
sounded like one guy who's got that competitive fire just
burning a hole through him. I mean, Vanderbilt is gonna
be ready to I expect a highly competitive game. This
will not be a game of who's not motivated or not.
I think you're going to have two really motivated teams
who will really want to win this game. But I
think I think Georgia Tech probably has a little bit
better top to bottom talent. And you give those coordinators
Buster Faulkner, Tyler Santucci a month to prefer for a game,
and I think I think Georgia Tay will be ready.
I think Georgia Tech wins out.
Speaker 2: Very good, very good. Okay, let's go on and take
a look at the next one. Here we got the
with Sabby Fenway Bull North Carolina taking on Yukon. This
is in Boston, Massachusetts, so it's pretty close. This is,
you know, gonna be much closer for the Yukon fan
base than it is for North Carolina's fan base.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a tricky one because you're gonna have
that mixture of North Carolina players probably going through the
motions and the ones who are trying to impress Belichick,
you know, outgoing staff and all that sort of thing.
This is a very losable game for North Carolina. I'm
gonna say that. I'm gonna say their overall talent level
will be just enough to get them through this game.
In a close game with Yukon, but like we kind
of alluded to, an upset wouldn't shock me. I think
North Carolina wins that game though outstandings.
Speaker 2: Then and then we got the we got the bad Boy,
uh Mower's pinstripe Bull and Bronx. Do you arc is
Boston College taking on Tobron.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is another one I think is going to
be similar to to Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech. I think
you will have two motivated teams in this game. This
is a pretty good match up here. Uh Riola kid
there at Nebraska and Nebraska's kind of showed some signs
of life this year in the Big Ten. BC still
kind of kept things going ether after Constellanos was demoted
and then it transfers to Florida State. Yeah, this is
a pretty even matchup here, But I'm gonna I'm gonna
lean with Nebraska.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, but still you're you're, you're, you're, you're staying
with the acc in a lot of these games. So
it's you got some high, high level of confidence. And
like I said, here's the next one. Here's the one
I thought that would really be a fun game to watch,
and that's Miami versus Ohio State in the Pop Tarts
Bowl in Orlando, Florida, Florida.
Speaker 1: Is Kim has Kim Ward had declared his intentions for
that game.
Speaker 2: You know what, I'm not sure. I'm not sure what
I'm not. I'm not sure about any player, not just him,
but any players for either team move opted in or
out Jeff.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, I'm even looking here and even the Miami
blogs or you know what, I'm gonna make it simple.
If cam Ward plays, I think they're gonna beat Iowa State.
And if he doesn't play, uh, I don't think they'll win.
Speaker 2: He's confirmed, he's confirmed that he will participate in the
ball game.
Speaker 1: Then then I like Miami in this game, especially even
though they had like issues defensively and we know about that,
you know, on the offensive side of the ball, they
were as good as any team in the country this year,
and you know, playing down there in Florida, they'll have
a lot of they should have a lot of fans.
I don't think it'll be a motivational thing with Iowa
State because they both kind of suffered the fame fate.
They had their destiny in their own hands to get
to the playoffs. Iowa State did too, and and they
kind of, you know, lost, lost a couple of games late,
just like Miami did. But this is a really good matchup.
This should be a lot of fun. But I think
Miami is coming out of this one.
Speaker 2: My only concern here is that Iowa State has is
a has a better in game head coach than Miami does. Yeah,
I mean I think and honestly, Jeff, I don't think
it's close. So you know, you're depending. I think Miami
is just dependent on having its heisman. QB kind of
saved the day, if that mad, if that makes sense,
you know what I mean, like and which he has
several times this year, right, I mean, let's be let's
be fair about that, right the cam Ward his say,
this team from you know being a you know, you
and I talked about this being a seven one team
from maybe a six six seven one team from from
being you know, a much higher way than you know,
being the ten win team they are now, right, So
I don't discount that that could happen. That's a big,
big primetime game for sure on on ESPN. That'd be
a fun one. All right. So we got the Bowl
go Bowling Military Bowl. We've got NC State versus East Carolina.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we were, we were talking about this game, and
this game scares me really for North Carolina State, it
really does. Gosh, I'm I'm I'm really tempted to pull
the upset and say East Carolina is gonna knock off
the wolf wolf Pack. But I love the freshman quarterback
they're at NC State. When he's good, they can be
they can be really good. But this is an extremely
dangerous game for NC State, And just like you talked
about Pitt in Toledo, if East Carolina goes up early,
I think the Wolfpack are gonna be in really big trouble.
I just can't, I don't. I can't pull the trigger
there on East Carolina just yet. So I think I'm
gonna take NC State. But man, that's a dangerous dangerous
game for the field.
Speaker 2: It feels like that's not gonna be a game where
there's a whole lot of points scored. Jeff. Yeah, yeah,
like like it's gonna be an ugly game and whoever
wins will be like twenty one to seventeen or twenty
to sixteen or something like that, you know what I mean,
something like that. Like I I just I have and
I I honestly could flip a coin on that game
right now, because I know they they've East Carolina I
think has a chance to They're they're they're they're gonna
have a lot of fans up there, and they you know,
you and I have talked about this before. They always
get up when they play those triangle teams, right, they
always you know, and so you know, I you know,
it's kind of a dream matchup for ESPN. So it's
kind of perfect for them, all right. So the Sunball
Louisville versus Washington, and this is certainly a different Washington
team than the one that was there last year.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely. If there's a concern for Louisville, it's that,
you know, quarterback Tyler Schoff is not going to be
in this one. I just kind of looked up to
make sure on that. Last year, I was really confident
in Louisville going up against USC, and they kind of
face planted in that game. In fact, I think I
might have said it was the most confident I was
in any of the ACC Bowl games, and they didn't
play well at all. You know, when louis Louisville is
a really inconsistent team. When they're good, they were really
really good. I mean they played with Notre Dame, they won,
and Death Alley beat Clemson, but they also went on
the road and lost to a really bad Stanford team.
It's all going to depend on Louisville. Which team shows up.
The Clemson Louisville team wins this game by two touchdowns.
The Stanford version loses by touchdown a couple of touchdowns.
I'm gonna I'm gonna, you know what, after last season,
I think Louisville is going to want to end this
season on a high note. After that disappointment of last year,
they had a lot of good moments. This year. They're
gonna be They'll get washed.
Speaker 2: I think so too. And they're favored by Vegas. The
consensus is two and a half points, right, from all
the books, so I think they will. But I think
it's not gonna be a blow out that anybody thinks
it is. Okay, we got Duke versus Old Mess here,
and I think that should probably be the easiest one
for you to pick.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't like this game for Duke. Unfortunately, you know,
Malik Murphy jumped into the transfer portal as fast as
he could. I mean, great job by Manny Diaz this
year getting Duke to nine wins. I mean, I think
they really hit above their their weight class this season,
kind of exceeding expectations. But ole Miss is a different animal.
Even if they have some opt outs for this game,
I mean, any team that can compete with Georgia, and
they didn't just compete Georgia every Georgia off the field
down in Oxford twenty eight to ten. So you know
they've got you know, top notch athletes. Yeah, this this
one just looks like a little This one looks just
out of reach for Duke. Even if even if ole
Miss has some you know, opt outs in this game,
it looks a little out of their reach. I'll like
ole Miss to win that one.
Speaker 2: And finally, and I'll give you my pick here. Uh,
Virginia Tech is playing Minnesota, and surprisingly these teams have
never played before, and a lot of people back in
my area of the country are kind of excited about
it because they know that they know that I'm a
Virginia Tech alumnus, and everybody's been asking me what I
think about this. I believe Minnesota is going to be
Virginia Tech. And I say that, Jeff, because they've had
some people who have already. I'm sure you saw the
new news about Monsieur Delaine.
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a big that's a big that's a big issue.
You have a coaching continuity issue there with the defensive
coordinator who's fired who I thought, remember we were I
reported it here first right that I thought something like
this would happen In November. I reported that right at
all sports Discussion dot com. I thought, you know, I
said that that that Brent Price is going to have
to start making some decisions. I mean, you get you know,
we talked. I talked about the board of visitors, you know,
having to make decisions about the ad, the president, the
football coach, and that you know that his that Brent Price,
for a hand would be forced a little bit this year.
So so already you don't have continuity at the at
the defensive coordinator spot. That just means that Brent Price
is probably going to take over the defense, which is
what he did when he was at Penn State. But
the level they're also averaging texts, also losing a top
offensive lineman to the transfer portal and one that's probably
going to play in the NFL. So they already they
already have a thin line at at at Virginia Tech.
And so I sense that, at least from my perspective,
that there's some talent that's leaving. You have some continentity
coaching continuity issues, and I I'm I'm just going with
Minnesota in this game because I feel like I feel
like I feel like they're you picked the team that
has coaching continuity versus the one that does not when
you go into a poll game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you, Matthew. There there's a lot
of you know, off the field kind of turmoil going
on with for Virginia Tech with the coaching staffs, and
and you know they're being they're being really hit hard
by the portal. It does you know, I do? I
can't I do see a pathway from Virginia Tech winning
the game, but going into it, it does kind of
feel like, you know, Minnesota's had a little more continuity
going into this game, so I like the Gophers in that.
Speaker 2: Okay, so here we go, man, let's go to the playoff.
Here is Climbson arrested. You're gonna win a playoff game? Yes?
Or no? And can either of these teams make a
run to the national title.
Speaker 1: I'll answer the second part first. I don't think either
one can can run all the way to the national title.
They both have to win four games to win the
national championship, and you know, it's just going to be
very difficult for either team to go on that kind
of run. Now, could I see a scenario where, you know,
one of them wins a couple of games, Yeah, I
can definitely see that happening. But winning a national title,
you know you're in at some point going to end
up playing you know, in Ohio State or Oregon or
Georgia even without a Carson Beck. I mean, they still
have tons of talent or a very good Notre Dame team,
and you know, to not and just to even get there,
both of them have to knock off like top ten teams.
So I think the pathway is just too difficult to
on the run the table all the way to that point.
If if one of them did actually have an outside
chance of pulling that off, I would have to probably
say Clemson probably from a talent standpoint, comes a little
bit closer to matching the overall talent of some of
the elite feel some of the elite teams out there,
they don't have the depth those other teams do. But
for that to happen, they definitely need their running game
to be healthier. So that's going to require Phil MafA
to to, you know, overcome some of the injuries that
he had towards the end of the year. But I
really don't see either making that kind of run as
far as like winning their opening game. I've had other
people about all of the the playoffs setups so far,
and I think what you're going to see in this
opening round is one upset, two close games where the
favorite wins, and one blowout. And since I think Indiana's
going to be the team that is going to get
blown out, and you have Ohio State and Tennessee as
the other game, which will be competitive, and I think
Tennessee is the lower seed in that one I could see,
and up there I do see SMU and Clemson being
very competitive. It's really hard to see which one I
think might might pull the upset. Maybe leaning a little
bit towards Clemson as the more likely to pull up
the upset, even though I love Kevin Jennings. They're at
SMU at quarterback, but you're going up into Penn State
in a wide out and his poor reputation as James
Franklin has in big games, and he has got an
awful reputation, and I think that's half the battle. That's
at least some of the battle there, I think. Rhet Lastly,
you're talking about who has an advantage on the sideline.
I think SMU definitely has an advantage on the sideline,
and they'll use that ACC title game, you know, the
slow start in that game to not fall behind on
on Penn State. That's you know, the way that Clemson
game started out. But I think in the end, Penn
State's gonna probably be a little bit too physical for SMU.
But I do expect it to be, you know, within
ten points, to get it late into the third quarter,
fourth quarter and SMU to have a chance when he
comes to Texas. I mean, they have an outstanding defense,
but they're not impossible to be that, that's for sure.
Georgia knocked them off, beat him in Austin, blew them
out in Austin, and then beat them with their backup
quarterback in the SEC title game. As good as Texas is,
they're not that great on offense. I mean, they really
they should be, and they were earlier in the season,
but you know, the last few weeks they've they've been
pretty average with ours in Manning. And you would think
with those kind of quarterbacks that talented, they wouldn't struggle
as much as they have on the offensive side of
the ball, but they have. And and Clemson's got some
talent on defense. They don't have a ton of depth,
but they've got their front eleven. And then Clemson has
shut down some really good offenses, you know, the first
halfs of games. It's kind of late in games that
they've kind of wore down when they couldn't get them
off the field. That game's all gonna come down if
Clemson can run the ball a little bit. They don't
have to run for like two hundred or something like that.
But if they can't run the ball at all, you know,
I don't see Kate Klebnick being able to, you know,
win that game on his arm. They you know, he's
a good quarterback, but he's not a great quarterback, and
I don't I don't see him being able to put
up the kind of performance where he kind of just
carries the team on his on his arm. And the
receivers they've they've got some pretty good ones and they've
improved on that side, but you know, they don't have
a Sammy Watkins or you know, Justin Ross when he
was a freshman, or Mike Williams or DeAndre Hopkins or
anyone like that. Maybe some might develop into that, but
they really got to have that running game. And so
that's the key. If Clemson can run for seventy five
to one hundred yards, they'll have a great chance to
beat Texas. But that's going to be the question.
Speaker 2: Fair enough, fair enough, it's open microphone time, Jeff, And
I'm gonna put this out there first, and I'm gonna
be like, I'm going to be the Devil's advocate naysayer
and say that North Carolina will be lucky if they
get Bill Belichick for a year, because I think he's
just using the school to try to get another shot
at an NFL deal. Am I wrong? Jeff? He has
a one year, but the buyout goes down substantially after
one year, you know what I mean? From my basically
ten MILLI like he can't you know, like if he leaves,
let's say where he were to leave, like in two months,
he'd have to pay ten million to get out. If
if you waited a year, it's just one million. And
I'm just telling you that I feel like he's using
North Carolina right now to further his own needs and
is not really looking at what the what the institution,
the institutional needs or anything, or trying to make them
successful or not. Jeff. So maybe I'm maybe I sound
like I'm being harsh here, you know, because I was
because I never thought that it was a bad idea
for them to say Cyanora to mac Brown. I thought
that was the right move. I perhaps thought it was
maybe a year or two year or too late, you know,
but and I think they probably could have hired somebody
else for that for that position. But I don't feel
like he's a long term, you know, higher for North Carolina.
I could be flat out wrong, you know, because he's
you know, apparently there are stories out there about him
getting the money that he needs, the resources that he needs,
and that sort of thing, you know, to be to
win immediately. And there are boosters on that clan, on
that clan that want to get North Carolina to a
better conference, and they'll need to get football better, not
because it drives the bus and all that stuff. But
I am curious on.
Speaker 1: Your you know, I don't I'm going to take the
opposite stance on this. I don't think he did ask
for so many things before he would take the North
Carolina job, and they gave him pretty much everything he was,
you know, asking for. And I think, you know, I
think he wants to be able to prove that he
can rebuild a program, whether it would have been in
the NFL or again, because we'd heard rumors that he'd
interviewed for the Falcon's job a few a couple of
years ago and that other jobs. And I think he
really took its taking it as a challenge to rebuild
a program. And you know, I think North Carolina is
going to be that restoration project he's going to try
to work on. I don't think he's going to use
it to angle, and I could be wrong. You could
definitely be right. But I don't think he's using it
to angle for another job. You know, in a year
or two. I think he's probably looking at three to
four years at North Carolina and see if he can,
if he can build up a program and kind of,
you know, kind of validate himself that he can, you know,
win big without Tom Brady. Kind of like Tom Brady
going down to Tampa Bay and winning the Super Bowl.
You know, tom Brady's got that monkey off his back.
You know, he proved he could win without Belichick, and
now I think Belichick is going to try to do
the do the same. So I don't think he's using
it to angle for another job. But definitely I could
be wrong. We might look at it in twelve months
from now and be like, Matthew, you were right all along.
Speaker 2: Okay, So you got a good article. You want to
talk about it about about how out of North Carolina,
Georgia Tech gave the accs and publicity or rampant probolicity.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I'll use this for my my open mic.
I mean, it's been an ACC problem for years, you know,
trying to get football exposure. And they always said, hey,
if you win, you know the exposure will come. And
to a certain extent that is true, but you know
that doesn't always you know, that's not always the case
because you know, when you look at the SEC, the
way that covers the ESPN would give him. I mean,
if one of their coaches sneezed it was being covered,
or one of the players or anything, it was like NonStop.
So the ACC and their teams they have to be
creative about how they kind of break that that SEC
big ten media media wall. And I think one of
the things that North Carolina has done with Belichick hiring,
and you know it's a little bit of a risky strategy,
but by by getting him in the door, they've been
in the news cycle for like a week straight. The
day after they got hired, I turned on sports radio,
and National Sports Radio is talking about it the whole time.
I'm I'm in the car. All the national radio shows
and all the national shows that ESPN has, they're talking
about Belichick. They're talking, we're talking about them today on
their NFL preview shows. They're talking about Bill Belichick, and
so when they're talking about Belichick, they're talking about North
Carolina and to a lesser extent, they're talking about, uh,
the ACC. And I think you're going to start to
see more programs kind of take this approach. And I'm
gonna call it the Dion Sanders effect, where you just
go after an absolute, you know, massive personality, former player,
former coach who has all kinds of you know, playing
or coaching credibility and looking for something new and just
have it there on the on the on the news cycle.
I mean, I think I wrote into article like, you know,
is anybody called Peyton Manning or Tom Brady asking if
they want to get into coaching and you know think
if they were hired at those schools that at some
school it'd be in there NonStop. So I think North
Carolina has hit on something that maybe other other programs
might might take a take a shot at. When it
comes to Georgia Tech, I think they did a couple
of things this year. There have been a couple of
ports eight that depending on who you read, Georgia Tech
was you know, either the highest rated ACC program in
terms of viewership this year or you know, right behind Miami.
I read one that had Georgia Tech one and the
other one read Miami. But in either case, Georgia Tech
drew massive numbers for a seven and five team. And
what they did is their two o their highest profile
games were in exclusive windows. They were willing to play
their opening game with Florida State in Ireland in Week zero.
That game drew five million and was the game of
the weekend Game day was there that was that was
a massive game. And then they played Georgia on a
Friday night, you know, the day after Thanksgiving. Clemson, for example,
turned that game down Georgia Tech and Georgia went ahead
and played that game. Turned out to be a great game,
but you know, and that's part of it. Game drew
like eight and a half million people, one of the
biggest draws and the highest to feature any ACC team
this year. So that's another thing is for ACC teams
to have that flexibility. You know that SEC is going
to get those best time slots on ABC. I mean,
there's just nothing you can do about that. They're just
going to do it. So you got to be creative,
and you know, if they ask you to play in
an exclusive window time slot. It's probably in your best
interest to take it because people are gonna watch. I
think Virginia Tech and South Carolina. I'm hearing that they
might be the Sunday night game between on the Labor
Day weekend, if I understand? Is that right? Is that confirmed?
Speaker 2: What was what was the question, Jeff?
Speaker 1: Who's the labor I think isn't Virginia Tech and South
Carolina playing on the Sunday of Labor Day next week?
Next year?
Speaker 2: I think so? Yes, I know they're opening, they're opening this. Yes,
they're opening the season against each other. And I also
think that that's bad news for In fact, well I'm
saying as a fan, that's bad news for Virginia Tech
because Virginia Tech's gonna get waxed in that game.
Speaker 1: Oh well, that's a different story. But a lot of
people are gonna be especially with sellers coming back.
Speaker 2: You know, it's the whole narrative, Jeff, because you're gonna
see Frank Bieber with a with the South Carolina you know,
Jersey On, You're gonna see Seane Beemer and you're going
to say, oh, they were at Virginia Tech for years,
and no, I don't even actually I buy Yeah, so
in theory is good for the ACC to have I
agree with your larger point. It's good to have exposure
for that. But this is not gonna look this is
this is this part here is not gonna look good
for the conference, I think.
Speaker 1: So, I mean probably maybe they want to move that
one to a different slot.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think I might move that to
like like the like the eleventh, if they could have
a game at eleven thirty on the ACC network or
something like that, I'd probably be more supportive of that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good point. I mean when you when
you get those kind of slots, you do have to
make the game competitive. And I mean Georgia Tech was
a heavy underdog at that time to Florida State won
the game before Florida State imploded, and then they go
and play North play Georgia the SEC champion in an
instant classic eight overtime games. So yeah, it's one thing
to have the game be highly competitive and entertaining versus
a blowout. And uh but still the idea is in
the heart's in the right place to get that in
a in a in a typical year, that would be
a really good matchup to have on a exclusive window
and who knows, maybe Virginia Tech will be you know,
ready for that game. I mean same with Georgia Tech
and Florida State. At that time of the year. Many
people you know had at Georgia Tech losing that game
and as a thirteen to fourteen point underdog, so still
got to give them a chance. But going into that game,
I think South Carolina is gonna They're.
Speaker 2: Gonna be South Carolina is going to be a huge
favorite because Virginia Tech's losing a lot of players and
it's uh I honestly, I I don't know. We're gonna
find out a whole lot about Virginia Tech's football program
next year, and we can have a completely separate podcast
about that because there's gonna be a lot decisions coming
from a lot of people about futures in multiple areas
at Virginia Tech. Jeff, what a great podcast tonight. Good
to chat with you. Matt zamac will be with us
here next week for the final podcast in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: All right, sounds good. I'm gonna reach out to you
separately Matthew about that podcast time.
Speaker 2: Sounds great. Take care all right, bye?