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November 24, 2025 • 10 mins

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
College football season continues to wind toward its conclusion. Week
thirteen was not massive, but it was interesting and we're
talking about it all right now with Eric McLain of
the ACC Network. A former Clemson offensive lineman eMac is
back with us for a Monday conversation.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Eric McLain, what's going on, brother, How.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Are you Kav?

Speaker 4 (00:17):
Great to be with you, brother.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Well, it's good to have you back.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
I hear you're talking with Rhet Lashley today, and I
guess that's topical because, well, the ACC is figuring itself
out each and every week, and well, we went from
expecting a Virginia and Georgia Tech ACC championship game to
now looking hard at a Virginia SMU ACC championship game.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
What do you think?

Speaker 1 (00:37):
I mean, Pittsburgh is obviously in there in the mix too,
But what do you think about coming out of Week thirteen,
the way that the conference championship is taking shape?

Speaker 5 (00:45):
Yeah, we've been known as the all chaos Conference for
about two months now, So.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Why not you know string things out?

Speaker 5 (00:52):
Why know who's gonna play in the game when you
have another week of football that could decide that, And
that's what we decide to do man, and it's crazy,
like nobody body wants to secure that bid. And you know,
obviously I'm joking when I say that, but no one
has been able to.

Speaker 4 (01:06):
Secure that yet.

Speaker 5 (01:07):
Just as soon as uh, you know, someone has the
opportunity to clinch, they defer and you know, lose and
goes on to the next week. Well, we're out of
week so somebody's got to do it, and it's gonna
happen this weekend. And like you just said there that
the you know, most.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
In controlled teams are Virginia.

Speaker 4 (01:25):
To beat your Hokies, which I know you don't want
to hear that, and.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Of course SMU uh to beat cal at Cal.

Speaker 5 (01:31):
So you know, not the most daunting thing when you
kind of look at just how those other teams have
been playing this year, but certainly not a positivity as
we know, it's been complete chaos all season long.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
No, listen, I want to be clear about something too
that you know, having the traditional powers in your championship
game is a good thing, and I think we can
all argue that pretty easily. But you know, if we
get Virginia SMU, if we get Virginia Pitt or even
pit SMU.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Now like these teams.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Will have earned their way there, so I want to
give them their due credit in that way. But there's
now the issue of Miami at five and two in
conference play nine and two overall, you know where I'm
going with this. We got the next round of rankings
tomorrow night. But last week you had the Committee ranked
Notre Dame ninth Miami thirteenth. I saw you teeing off
on this on Twitter as well. But for the folks
that haven't heard your take on this, obviously the ACC

(02:20):
champion is not going to be a playoff team, but
Miami still could be. And you know, we've talked about
the identical records between Miami and Notre Dame, the head
to head win back in Week one. For those that
don't know your stance, what is your take on how
the committee handled that last week?

Speaker 5 (02:35):
Yeah, I think it's just interesting, to be honest, because
more so of how they said.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
It and what they said.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
You know, and the.

Speaker 5 (02:42):
Commissioner or the chair excuse me, is coming out.

Speaker 4 (02:46):
And sitting here saying, well, we have a.

Speaker 5 (02:49):
Really evaluated Notre Dame in Miami against each other, and
I'm just sitting here dumbfounded when I hear those words
because bad news. They played on the field like we
saw already it was, it was already evaluated by the
two teams, and you know, Miami won that. And I
think that every day that goes by, that these records
get closer and closer to being the.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
Same at the end of the year. That has to
factor in.

Speaker 4 (03:13):
And the interesting thing, you know, the A people.

Speaker 5 (03:15):
Came out you know, yesterday, which that shouldn't matter, and
they are nowhere near a line. But it is interesting
to see that they bumped Miami over Utah because of
the close, you know game that Utah had, giving up
almost five hundred yards on the ground last week this
past week in Miami obviously winning and convincing fashion there.

Speaker 4 (03:36):
So as they get closer.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
Are they giving them the nod?

Speaker 5 (03:40):
And if you feel that good about Notre Dame, how
can you not feel that good about Miami who beat them?
So I think Notre Dame is actually good enough. I
actually have really enjoyed watching them all year. I just
don't like the discrepancy of a team that beat them.
So if Notre Dame is in, Miami has to be in.
So I'm really fascinated to see if they continue to

(04:01):
overcorrect because we have seen two weeks in a row.
Now Miami go up three spots, Miami go up two spots,
not by beating anyone of note.

Speaker 4 (04:10):
And so how are they gonna handle that Tomorrow night?

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Eric McClain acc Network hanging out with us here for
his Monday conversation. All right, you know, Bill Belichick squared
off with Duke on Saturday was a really entertaining game,
really competitive game, and there were a lot of calls
in there that we can talk about. But the biggest
call of them all was the fake punt or fake
field goal excuse me, called by Manny Diaz with about
two and a half minutes left to go in the
game that's set up to go ahead touchdown. Your thoughts

(04:35):
on the gutsiness of that call, and you know what
that win meant both for Duke but also the loss
for Carolina and we now know they are not going bowling.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (04:44):
I think it is psychotic behavior by coach Diaz.

Speaker 4 (04:47):
I mean the fact that you can line up and
kick a.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
Field goal and win the game and he says, nah,
I'm good, We're gonna fake this and we're.

Speaker 4 (04:53):
Gonna call you know, run left with the kicker was crazy.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
Man, he just does this up on the road.

Speaker 4 (05:00):
I mean he saw him go for two against Clemson.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
You saw this happen. So when when Duke's on the road.

Speaker 5 (05:05):
All bets are off, chaos will ensue.

Speaker 4 (05:08):
Uh, and coach is going to call some crazy stuff.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
But I liked it.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
I like the aggressiveness and the young man almost scored there.

Speaker 5 (05:15):
So, you know, kudos to Duke. Unfortunately, have been very inconsistent.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
You know, all year, and we've.

Speaker 5 (05:21):
Seen flashes of greatness. We've seen things that just make
you scratch your head. But they beat their rival, they
get the you know, the rivalry trophy, which I know
is a huge, huge deal there.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
And then you.

Speaker 5 (05:31):
Look at a North Carolina team that again, you and
I have had many many conversations about these guys. I
thought that bowling would be the height, you know, kind
of of this year.

Speaker 4 (05:39):
They do not get that, you know.

Speaker 5 (05:42):
So what's next? How can you continue to recruit? How
can you continue, you know, to to develop this program
into whatever you think or want it to be. Uh,
It's it is back to the drawing board, though, and
those guys have to continue to figure it out.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
What would you I mean, is the obvious if Bill
Belichick will does continue this experiment into year two, and
I guess the odds now say that will happen. Like
obviously they got to make a change at offense, right
new OC probably a quarterback change.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
What would you look for them to do in the
off season.

Speaker 4 (06:08):
Yeah, I think so. And you know, just a quarterback
that is either you.

Speaker 5 (06:12):
Know, more dynamic or fits better with the pro model
that you want to do.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
I mean, you have to have a guy, you know
that can.

Speaker 5 (06:18):
Go through reads quickly and push the ball down field.
So you know, the good thing with this world that
we're living in KB you don't have to go through
recruiting cycles and hope you get the right thing. You
can immediately go out and get a guy. You can
immediately invest in that position at which we know is
the most important position. And you know, high school, college, NFL.

(06:39):
You got a guy there. He hides a lot of things.
You have to go and get that. You have to
be in the market for a big time quarterback and
see what that does. And then of course you know
throughout how how else can you or increase you.

Speaker 4 (06:51):
Know, just play throughout other positions there.

Speaker 5 (06:53):
But I think we've seen you know Spurst from this defense.
I think this defense has looked solid. So can you
get pieces there? Guys get better, But quarterback for me
and maybe a new play caller is certainly a top
of mind.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
I've had a couple of Clemson fans hit the FanDuel
text line to ask me to ask you how you
felt about Chris Dnson's performance against Furman on Saturday. Again,
that's not a game that's gonna draw a bunch of
national headlines, but you know you have an eye toward
the future now at Clemson. How'd you feel about Dnson's performance?

Speaker 4 (07:20):
Well, I certainly think it's something that you kind of.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
Raised your eyebrows down and be like, well, where was
this all year?

Speaker 5 (07:26):
Why has this guy not seen some opportunity? Why you
know this? And that I mean to you know, be
perfect through the air, which again four for four for
twenty yards. I don't think that's anything to write home
about a touchdown, but what he did with his legs
was pretty impressive. You know, one hundred yards on six carries.
You know, a big fifty yard run there. The body
type obviously is very impressive, big, strong looking.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
Guy that can move. Thought he was maybe a little early.

Speaker 5 (07:50):
When he took off to run. Sometimes and again it
is Furman like, let's be real, you know about everything there,
and I know you kind of stated it with that.
I still think Clemson needs to go to the portal,
get a guy and condensing, you know, either be in
a competition or continue to sit and learn and get better.
I don't think Clemson is in a place right now

(08:13):
where you're like, yeah, I feel great about this quarterback
room in the spring, We've got our guy.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
How do you feel about speaking to Clemson? How do
you feel about the the rivalry game coming up this Saturday.
I've seen a lot of negativity from Clemson fans, but
it's not like South Carolina's at a great spot right now.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
How are we feeling about that rivalry game?

Speaker 5 (08:29):
Yeah, you know, it is kind of annoying that we're
in this spot. I feel like I've been on Twitter
a lot recently and it's just everybody saying we're the
worst team.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
No, we're the worst team. You know.

Speaker 5 (08:39):
It's kind of battle of a battle of the I
don't know the bottom right here, which I hate, you know,
for this rivalry because it means so much to the state.
You know, obviously too. You know, good programs that that
you know, love to see each other coming down the
track at the end of the season and just I
don't know that it's just kind of devalued because of
how excited everybody was for each team. Clemson obviously going

(09:01):
to the postseason has a chance to you know, win
seven eight games here in Carolina will not be going bowling,
so that is difficult. I hope that by the time
Saturday comes around, you know, everybody's excited, there's a bunch
of you know, ill will in the air, and we
get this thing cranked up.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
No, it'd be awesome, it really would.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
Before I let you go, James Franklin made his appearance
in Blacksburg on game day Saturday.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
It was not even about the game.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Everybody wants to beat Miami, but you know, James Franklin
was there, and that's what really I mean, I think
the biggest reason they packed that place out on Saturday,
just in terms of hitting the portal. He kind of
liked Dabo to a lesser extent, though, you know, very
focused on high school recruiting being a developmental program. Penn
State fans would tell you they wished maybe he'd had
more success in the portal. Just your thoughts from that

(09:44):
standpoint on how he goes about trying to rebuild that
roster in Blacksburg this offseason.

Speaker 5 (09:49):
Yeah, well, I do think, and you you can correct
me if I'm wrong. I believe you were there when
he's opening Press Commerce. But I do believe he said
this first couple of years, we will be heavier in
the portal, just kind of getting and evaluating and finding out, you.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
Know, where we are, you know.

Speaker 5 (10:04):
But he wants to be very heavy in the high
school reason, I think, and the recruiting area that Virginia
Tech has, and obviously the ability that he has to
recruit at a high level just nationally in the name recognition,
and I mean that guy walks into your school or
into your house.

Speaker 4 (10:20):
That's a big deal and people are going to be
excited about that.

Speaker 5 (10:22):
So I do think three years from now it is
strictly supplemental. When he goes to the portal, it's we
had a guy get hurt, or oh, we had a
guy that didn't develop quite what we thought.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
We're going to bring this in to help that.

Speaker 5 (10:36):
I think that's certainly where you want to be. But
these first couple of years. Man, I think all bets
are off. You need to get the most talent that
you can as quickly as you can.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Absolutely well, said my man. I appreciate you as always.
Thank you for altering the schedule today. Have a great week.
We'll talk to you next Monday.

Speaker 5 (10:50):
Happy thanksgivving now, I appreciate you man in the flexibility,
have a great show out there, we say,
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