December 2, 2025 • 47 mins
In the second hour of the show, Walker and Flounder tell you just how important tonight and Wednesday are for ACC basketball, discuss whether or not Panther fans are allowed to start thinking about the playoffs and talk with Hunter Bailey about the Charlotte 49ers football season coming to an end.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Wesson Walker Show, and a moral lesson
is told at the end of each episode.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
One notable episode is one called The Price, in which
a boy buys a drug called spin. He was smoking
that spin It's Wes, becomes addicted to it and dies
of an overdose. We need Walk cartoons like that these
days for these badass and Walker.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Would these kids die of drugs?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yes, so they can learn their lesson and know not
to do it. If somebody fiction or dies, they'll learn
not to do it in nonfiction.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
You know what I'm saying, man.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
For that reason, Marshall braistaf Tech text New Texas is
straight by you. I had to act some figure bracet off,
but Ma Mar.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Wouldn't let me get tex hit only on Sports Radio
ninety two point seven FM wfn Z.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Oh come on, mom, why didn't you do this? They
said it was too demonic. Well maybe it's because the
kid died of drugs. Weston Walker, Sports Radio ninety two
to seven wfn Z.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
No Wes for the next couple of hours.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
For the next week, he's taken some time off thanks
to Flounder for helping us out doing a whole bunch
of stuff for us. Producing the show and also co hosting,
and we're broadcasting live from the Chandler Volta studios. Just
as a reminder, go to CV Injurylawed dot com, CB
Injury lad dot com.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
One call.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
That's all the Carolinas personal injury lawyers. We appreciate Chandler
Volta for helping us out over here at w FNZ.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
All right, I don't want to waste any time.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
I almost talked about this entire topic at the top
of the show, so let's just dive right on in
time now for the campus cod on a Tuesday. I'm
still gonna keep attempting it. That's really tried. Yeah, that
was a for effort. Yesterday was better.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Thank you a for effort.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
ACC SEC Challenge it's tonight. Last year, as I mentioned earlier,
the ACC they won two games compared to the SEC's
fourteen victories into only twenty four. The year prior, the
first year of the ACC SEC College Basketball Challenge, they
were tied. Both teams won seven games of pop not
so much last year. As I just mentioned, I think
(02:11):
that this is a challenge where the ACC has a
great opportunity to capitalize and you have a bunch of
really interesting games, a bunch of ranked matchups between both
It feels like, correct me if I'm wrong. I feel
like the ACC is getting more respect coming into this
season than they did last year. Yes, and I think
that's true even of the year prior. So you have
(02:33):
a couple of ranked matchups as I mentioned, Duke and
Florida and Cameron Indoor Kentucky North Carolina tonight nine thirty,
that's in Lexington. Usually we've seen a bunch of neutral
side games between these two programs, but this one is
going to be played at Rupp Arena. That's the nightcap,
and then tomorrow you have Arkansas hosting Louisville. That's a
twenty five to six matchup. And then those are the
(02:56):
three games where you have both teams ranked like not bad.
NC State just fell out of the top twenty five
for losing a couple of times out in their tournament,
which I'm sure was devastating to you over there, Flounder.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Oh that's my heart.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
If they beat Auburn, it would go a long way
into getting them back in the top twenty five. Auburn
is ranked twentieth. What are your thoughts heading into the
ACC SEC Challenge as a whole and how much respect
can the ACC gain with a nice showing game.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
Oh, they can gain a tremendous amount of respect. This
is where you can start to have the conversation about
the ACC being back if they win this event. Now,
do I think they're going to win this event? I
don't know about that. Do I think they're going to
compete better? I certainly do think that is the case.
When you look at the thing that's weird is I
(03:42):
don't know how many games you can guarantee that the
ACC is going to win. I think Cal over Utah easy,
very easy. Cal's a much better basketball team than they are.
I mean, I want to think Florida State's better than Georgia,
but that one's still a toss up. I think Wake
(04:02):
Forest beats Oklahoma. I will say that. So, I think
you've got some games right there that you can guarantee.
Then you've got the toss up games. You've got Carolina
and Kentucky tonight. I think that certainly is a toss
up game that could go the way of Carolina, Virginia
Tech and South Carolina. I think that could certainly go
(04:23):
the way of Virginia Tech, especially if they're a true
freshmen that they have plays as well as he's played
to start the year. And then to me, oh, the
other one that I forgot, that's an automatic. Duke's gonna
smash Florida's. Florida's not good. Their backcourt completely rated after
last season. Guys that just went to the they either
(04:44):
went to the NBA or they went to different schools,
like Denzel Aberdeen who went to Kentucky.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Who I really liked, was a huge part of that
second half comeback, and it really.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
Struggled without those guys in the backcourt. So I think
Duke has a lay up there. And then I mean, yeah,
there's some other ones like Miami Ole Miss I feel
like that could be a toss up. There's a lot
more games this year that I feel like can be
toss ups because the only ones that I'm guaranteeing you
on Night one will not go the way of the ACC.
I don't think Pittsburgh is beating Texas A and M,
(05:16):
even though Texas A and M is in great Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Has some horrendous loss.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
Yeah, it's been rough for him so far, and I
will say there is zero chance I think they might compete,
but there is zero chance that Sarahcuse is beating ten
I knew you were.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Going to go there. I know you are. I don't
see it.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
I know you are not high on Syracuse. It is
one of the games that is first mentioned by ESPN
dot com Myron Metcalf to be exact when discussing what
games we should be paying attention to the most. Here's
what he writes. Syracuse had arguably the toughest draw of
the Player's Era Festival, finishing zho to three against number
eight Houston, number twenty one Kansas, and number ten Iowa State.
(05:54):
This game won't be any easier. Tennessee is top twenty
in offense and defense according to Kenpom. But you do
have some interesting guys for Syracuse. They will have to
solve the riddle of some of these impressive players that
Tennessee has every single year. Syracuse, though they're not bad,
they just have a really tough strength to schedule. Maybe
they can get the job done against Tennessee. They are
(06:16):
playing at home against the volunteers. That might help them
out just a little bit. But I would pick Tennessee.
I think you're right about that. I mentioned this at
the top of the broadcast. Man, I just need the
good ACC programs to take care of business.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
That's what I want.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
And I'm talking about even the programs over the last
twenty years that have established themselves as some of the
best teams within the conference. Louisville tall task, I get it.
Arkansas on the road. You are ranked higher than they are.
I believe that you are better than Arkansas. I need
you to get this win. That's a big win for
the conference, right, that's a must have. I think so too.
North Carolina Kentucky struggling. You got them on the ropes,
(06:55):
even if it is on the road. Even if they
don't perform all that well against Kentucky over the last matchups.
They're three and seven in the last ten matchups against
the Wildcats. A lot of that's been on neutral site,
so at RUP maybe that's a little bit different. I
think North Carolina is got to have it if you're
gonna win this challenge, got to have it. Duke against Florida, Man,
that's so those are to me. When you talk about
(07:18):
the ranked opponents. When you have both opponents ranked coming
into a matchup, and all of them, in my opinion,
favor the ACC, that's already a nice start, and then
now can you win some of these other games in
the middle of all of it. I really hope they
get it done, just so there's no excuse for the
committee to point to and say, well, you know the
acc that the days of them reigning supreme are long gone.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Now, man, we got some talent.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Now you have those teams that maybe can get these
victories like of Virginia they play on Wednesday, and Virginia
against Texas, that would be a that would be a
good victory for the PLA.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Let's get it. Let's get that one. Guys like Texas,
I get it.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
They got Sean Miller, They've had some moments they and
they beat NC State eight out in Maui. But that's
one where if you're Virginia, let's take that one and
show people that you are a legitimate team that's gonna
be competing to make the NCAA Tournament this year.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Yeah, so Virginia having been good n C stayed at Auburn, Like, look, is.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
It important to you?
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Because I see Myrin Goodman right in that Fitty doesn't
think this is all that much of a big deal,
which I'd be interested as to why Doctor Quad's feels
that ways inter Us, do you think it's a big
deal for the conference to at least to give us
eight wins in this thing? Oh Man, eight wins that
now that might be win the Challenge.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
That's what I'm asking you.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
I don't think it's important that they win the Challenge,
but I think you need to be more competitive than
last year. You won two got to games in this
tournament in this challenge last year, so this year you're
just hoping for a little bit better. And there are
teams in this conference that I think are better. We
just talked about some of those teams that could go
a long way towards helping them. Maybe a team like
(08:57):
SMU team's undefeated so far this year. Now I don't
know how great they are, but they go on the
road to take on Vanderbilt.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Could they win that game? That would be big for
the ACC.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
This matters, guys, like in terms of the reputation of
the conference and what it means for them in the
net rankings. You need to have some important wins here
in this challenge in order to bolster up the reputation
of this league, because where else are you gonna get that?
Speaker 3 (09:26):
There?
Speaker 5 (09:26):
Are some teams that play tough at of conference schedules,
but there's a lot of teams that they're playing soft
non conference schedules. There's some teams that have lost some
really bad games already in this conference. So this challenge
really does matter. You need a strong showing.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
There are eight teams in the ACC right now with
one or fewer losses. Some of the teams that aren't
in that category include NC State, who is talented, even
if I don't know about the reckoning coming this year,
but they are talentalented. We know that Wake Forest at
six and two. A couple of their losses have been
heartbreakers against good competition, and Syracuse they have three losses
(10:10):
and every single one of those losses have come against
top eighteen or twenty ranked programs Kansas I think was
twenty one if I'm not mistaken, so top twenty one
ranked programs, all of those losses for Syracuse. So if
you have eight teams in the ACC with one loss
or fewer, and you have those other teams that I
just mentioned that have lost to either good competition or
we know to be talented, man, I know a lot
(10:31):
of ACC fans are on the text line saying, Walker,
I get your optimism, I just don't see it happening
for this conference.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
I'm not so sure. I think you can.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
I think it's possible for this conference to win the
ACC SEC Challenge, and I think that would go a
long way in gaining some respect, not even from how
much does it matter to us because we care about
it so much standpoint, but from a hey bracketologist, y'all
are going to have a hard time keeping the ACC
squads out if we can go back to this challenge
and say the ACC one against all those SEC apparties.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Because they went back to it last year.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
Man, when it came to see they said, look at
how bad the ACC SEC Challenge was. That shows you
that it's just a different level of competition. You want
to prove that that is not the case this year,
that you can at least hang around with the SEC,
and that you're on par with a conference like the
Big twelve something like that. I think they are on
par with that type of conference. I don't know that
(11:26):
they're better than the SEC, but yeah, is it possible
that they win this. It certainly is possible, much more
possible than last season.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Would I go in expecting it. I would not just.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Give the committee less excuses to keep you out. That's
what I'm asking. This goes a long way for the
next two days. This goes a long way in depriving
the committee from excuses as to why the ACC should
not be included in March Madness. That'll do it for
the campus Kauna. Coming up next, how much of a
Panther's playoff conversation are we allowed to have? Realistic Sports
(12:00):
Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ, WESN Walker Back Sports
Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ. Thanks for texting us
(12:23):
on the FanDuel text line seven oh four five seven
oh ninety six. Ten people writing in about some college
basketball tonight. Salty Pirate says ACC better start winning in
basketball because they're going to lose their P four card.
Get out of here, salty Pirate, you're doing always salty?
Are always salty? S Aren't you dying to be in
this dying conference? Supposedly though, who's your daddy? Says ACC
(12:46):
is scared of the Big Ten challenge? ACC is still
weak sauce he spelled week w E E K.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
By the way, Yeah, we're playing the best conference in
all of college basketball, which is definitely the SEC.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
It is not the Big Ten.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
But we're scared Antwine. The mayor man says, damn, this
is crazy, the acc used to run at college basketball.
We're trying to get back, Antwine. That's why I wanted
to happen to process, That's why I want it to happen.
And I do think the acc realized, yeah, man, we
used to be good at this. Let's just go ahead
and spend more money on it and get back to
really caring about the things that matter to this region
(13:23):
of the country, which is we care a lot about
college basketball around here. And I get that college football
has taken over in a way just because football is
a culture. It's not a sport. But college basketball still matters.
It still has some culture like tendencies around here, especially
within the state of North Carolina. And c State told you, yeah,
we want to care about basketball. That was a fun
(13:43):
Final Four run we had. I'd like to get close
to that again. So let's spend a bunch of money
on Will Wade, and let's give him a bunch of
money to spend on all of these recruits, so a
potential reckoning could happen, and Duke We know they've been
doing things the right way infrastructurally speaking for quite time.
North Carolina feels like they finally decided all right, you know,
(14:03):
we need to get a little bit with the times
and provide some consistency with this basketball program ourselves. This
would go a long way in providing some evidence of that.
You had the win against Kansas, big win, no doubt, huge.
Can you give us another one before we really hit
conference play to establish some level of dominance along with
Duke some of these other teams like Louisville that are
(14:25):
going to be atop the conference. If you can be
a team that has those two wins to point to
Kentucky and Kansas, man like those teams still carry a
panache that goes a long way. Well, Buddy, I think
you can start to feel good about what this Heels
teams can do in acc Well.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
The big thing about it is that if you'd win tonight,
you are guaranteed a quad one win. I cannot see
a scenario where Kentucky drops below seventy fifth in the net.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
That would be absolutely stunning.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
That would be one of the worst seasons that we've
seen from Kentucky in a long, long time. I don't
think that's gonna happen. I think there's too much talent
on that roster. The Kansas win, that's the problem is
that that win is great unless they stay ranked in
the top thirty. Because you played that game at home,
it wouldn't be a quad one win. Is it impossible
(15:17):
for them to fall out of the top thirty. No,
they've done it the last couple of years right where
they've struggled in conference play. So this is a huge
opportunity for Carolina. You get this one, then you've you know,
got opportunities at home against Georgetown. Now, I don't believe
that Georgetown will be ranked in the top thirty in
the net when it's all said and done.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
I think they're a better team this year.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
They can make the tournament, which certainly helps as well
winning against tournament teams. But you know, I think Ohio
State could that be a game that maybe.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Is Quad one as well.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
Like there's other opportunities out there, but this one would
be the one that for sure seals it that you
have that quad one win before you go into conference play, because,
as we've found out the last couple years, we may
think that the conference is better, But when you get
into conference play, you might find out that there are
a lot of duds in the conference and you don't
(16:09):
have nearly as many opportunities as you'd like.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
Seven oh four five, seven oh ninety six ten. Feel
free to join in on the conversation. Let's get back
to the Carolina Panthers swing of things and ask about
the playoff conversation.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Are we allowed to have it for real? For real?
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Because again, just thinking about the chances of this team
getting there. You see on ESPN dot com Bill Barnwell
is writing about the chances some of the best playoff
races that we're going to have down the stretch, and
then you go to the NFC South and it's pretty weak.
Tampa Bay, they were a really good football team at
the very beginning of the season when they started to
(16:46):
even if they were only winning by one possession, they
were still winning a bunch of games in a row.
They experienced a bunch of injuries and all those one
score wins they came home to roost. Now they're here here,
they are battling injuries. Maybe they're not even all that
much better than Carolina. And that's still a question that
I have like I I did a hit for bet
MGM and it was before the San Francisco.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Gosh, everybody's having you on man.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Well, no, this is I don't think that's the only
you're doing. It's broadcast. You're on bet MGM, you gotbas
and Gilio. I mean, it's just I guess that is
run dude.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Yeah, perhaps I need yeah that that seems like I'm
patting myself too much on the back. Yeah, I was
on bet MGM. That's a big spot and that's it's
It's fine anyways. I really what I wanted to say
was that I had a cold take. I thought I
thought it might get reported to cold take because I
asked before the San Francisco game, or yeah, are we
(17:43):
sure that Tampa is a better football team than the Panthers?
And then they go out and they performed the way
that they did against the forty nine ers. I was like,
all right, well, okay, maybe they maybe they aren't and
I got a little too ahead of my skis. Now
fast forward a week, the Panthers get the win against
the and the Buccaneers almost lost to the Cardinals. I
did pick the Cardinals to win that game. I felt
(18:04):
like Arizona could possibly do it, and the Cardinals are
the scary team that doesn't actually win any games, but
they're gonna play you close. So I thought maybe it
would happen against Tampa, but it didn't. Even so, I
don't watch what happened against the Cardinals and think, oh, okay,
Tampa Bay. Yep, they're right back on top, and there
is a significant gap between the two.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
I don't feel that way. No you shouldn't.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
So if I don't feel that way, and there's two
games coming up against that team that I'm not sure
is all that much better than Carolina, better at all?
To me, it does feel like we actually have a
realistic playoff conversation we should be having around Carolina.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
You are a half a game out of first place
in your division. There is no scenario where you should
not be talking about possibly making the playoffs when you're
that close.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
You're a good football team. I'm sorry, that's how it works.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
And you could say, well, this is a parody filled
NFL year. Oh this is not normal year of football.
Doesn't matter. You're seven and six, You're right there. So
I think it is a question as to who is
the better team. Here's My thing about the about Tampa
even some of their wins. Go back and look early
in the season, they're winning every game at the Horn.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
I mean they almost lost to the Jets. Yeah, they did.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
That's that tells you that this team isn't necessarily great.
We didn't want to see it early in the year
because I think a lot of us were saying, please
anybody but Philly, please be better in this conference, and
so we wanted to have that conversation. Is Tampa better
than them? The ultimate answer is no, they are not
on that level. Nobody in this division is necessarily on
(19:45):
that level. Although Philly starting to look a little suspect,
which I love, but I do think yet you should
be fully in the thick of having that playoff conversation
because now when you look at the team that the
Panthers a beat, the Rams clearly better than Tampa. The Packers,
(20:06):
I think, clearly better than Tampa. Now, I don't think
like the the MVP odds we were going through him
this morning on DraftKings. They got Jordan Love fourth in
the MVP race. I think that's a little crazy. I
don't think they're having that great of a season. Well, really,
it's just there still eight three and one.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Well, really, it's just because it's a two person race
at this point, I'm not sure who should be in
the conversation outside of Drake may and Stafford. You could
go to Jonathan Taylor. I love Jonathan Taylor's come back,
he's nowhere near it. Well, and you've even seen the
last few games. He has not had the crazy numbers
that he was putting up the first I guess what,
ten games of the season. He's fallen back a little bit. JSN.
(20:44):
I just don't know how a receiver is ever going
to be a real threat, and then he only had
what was it twenty yards this past time out. It's
gonna be christ McCaffrey JSN, and Jonathan Taylor in contention
for Offensive Player of the Year, which is essentially who's
the best offensive player that's not a quarterback.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
That's who we give that to.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
MVP's going to go to a quarterback, except maybe a
two thousand yard back, and I don't think Taylor's going
to reach that after what we've seen the last couple
of games. Therefore, it's Drake and it's Matt Stafford. To
your point, though, yeah, Baker Mayfield used to be a
part of it, and he's not anymore, and like he's
fallen all the way off, like we're he's not needed
(21:24):
even like eighth.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
So it's not like he's awful. But at the same time,
he hasn't been He hasn't been where he was at
the start of the season.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
No, but that's a We had him as the MVP
winner right over the first four or five weeks and
now it's it's a far cry from those conversations that
we were having because the team isn't winning nearly as much. So,
like we have Stanford Pee who writes in Okay, this
team is a roller coaster until they put it together consistently.
(21:51):
All Caps playoffs are not a part of my vocabulary.
Except what I'm saying is it's not even really all
about the Panthers as to if they make the playoffs.
A lot of this does have to do with Tampa
Bay and your belief or lack of belief in them.
Carolina can be inconsistent. I have no clue what to
expect from this team. Mena Kaim said it right. The
(22:13):
first rule of picking the Panthers games is that you
don't pick Panthers games just can't do it.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
They beat the Rams.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
Well, if you pick against the spread, even Panther games,
you're cynical.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
You're living dangerously. You like danger. That's what happens if
you pick Panthers games. But really it's Tampa who Yeah,
a lot of their recent losses have come against really
good football teams. They don't have that treacherous of a
schedule left. They have the Saints this weekend or I'm sorry,
they're actually on a bye this weekend. Tampa is alongside
(22:43):
Carolina and then they play the Saints on I'm sorry,
I was reading seventeenth. They do have the Saints this weekend.
I apologize, Saints this weekend. Falcons on a short week,
maybe the Falcons could pull off the upset. I wouldn't
be the house thing. And it's two games against the Panthers,
it is against the Dolphins. I just I don't see
(23:04):
that and think, ooh, Tampa's about to destroy everybody. Now, man,
I think Carolina's got a shot. And it's again not
because of all of this belief that this is the
time where we see consistent production from Carolina. It's that
I don't believe in Tampa and that matters just as
much when trying to figure out who wins the division.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
Consistency does not mean anything when it comes to winning
a division that might not be great. Look at the
AFC South, you think that's the most consistent division. The
Jaguars are one of the most inconsistent teams at eight
and four that I have ever seen. I have no
idea what that team is, no idea, and yet they
(23:42):
are still leading that division. If the Colts win that division,
do we consider them a consistent team?
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Now?
Speaker 5 (23:49):
Part of that is And look, man, I love giving
flak to Daniel Jones because I don't want him to succeed.
I will come out and admit that as a Giants fan,
I don't want it to work out.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Anyone to do double way before.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
You well, but as a Giant fan, you don't want
to admit that maybe you gave up on the quarterback
at the wrong time, even though I don't think it
would have worked in New York. But he's got he's
got a broken fibula and the dude's playing on that.
So they're not gonna be that consistent. The Texans, they're
not gonna be that consistent. And guess what do you
think that any of their fans are holding back and saying, man,
(24:22):
we can't talk about playoffs till we're consistent. Hell no,
you talk about the playoffs. You are a half game
out of first place in this division. You gotta start
having that conversation. And the other thing that I think
you really have to hammer home here is again the
type of wins that are on the schedule for the Panthers.
If they were beating teams that's stunk like' If you're
(24:44):
just beating up on all the teams you're supposed to
beat up on, then you can have the conversation about, well,
how good really are they?
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Are they a playoff team?
Speaker 5 (24:52):
They've beaten two teams that might just be the two
best teams in the NFC.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
So you gotta have that conversation. Man, If tamp, did
you know what's funny? I've been coming up with a tired,
slash wired point about the Panthers because you look at
the NFL. You brought up parody earlier. I know people
hate the word parody because it brings up all sorts
of wild takes, but I did not expect in one
(25:22):
full season Josh Allen and his team Pat Mahomes and
his team, Lamar Jackson and his team to come this
close to the pack. In fact, they're not even close.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
JD. How about that division? Get that mediocre division?
Speaker 5 (25:36):
So damn Bengals are still potentially talking about the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
So I just listed a bunch of AFC teams, right,
and I get it. But when we talk parody even
you go to the NFC and you see what the
playoff picture is. Man, Look, Philadelphia, as you mentioned, it
doesn't the Rams are still the team that you would
trust most in my opinion, even after a loss to
the Carolina pick. I agree with that. So you trust
the Rams. You look at the playoff picture in the NFC.
(26:02):
Chicago is nine and three, the Rams are nine and three,
Philadelphia eight and four, Tampa the last division winner is
a four seed seven and five, Seattle nine and three,
Green Bay eight and three, San Francisco nine and four.
So you've got some teams that you feel a lot
better about as a whole in the NFC than you
do the AFC. Except here's the thing, the tired conversation.
(26:23):
If the Panthers can make the playoffs, wired can Carolina
win a first round playoff game?
Speaker 3 (26:30):
If they get there. Ah, let's get crazy. Let's do
it anyday.
Speaker 5 (26:35):
If somehow they got the forty nine ers in the
playoffs and they beat them, oh my god, Oh a
meltdown on this show, Wes and Walker complete melt Chandler
Vault Studios.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
I apologize where I am going to experience an accident
and I will have to call you because I experienced
an accident within your old studios. That would be crazy.
I am visiting CV Injury Law dot com. I will
be giving you one call, that's all. But I think
it's possible. I really do think that that is possible.
Speaker 5 (27:06):
Or they make it there, because again, they're gonna make
it there. Nobody's gonna be expecting it. And I mean,
I don't know. Could you Could you have made the
playoffs while losing in the last week to get this
team motivated and play with their hair on fire like
they always seem to do and still make the playoffs.
(27:26):
I don't know about that, but I mean, I think
it's It's not the craziest thing to say, because, as
I said, you beat two teams that might be the
best teams in this conference. You could say whatever you
want about Chicago, man. I think they're having an amazing season.
Trust me, part of me loves what's going on there
(27:47):
because Ben Johnson's a tar heal, he's one of us. Yeah,
But at the same time, I just don't know if
I trust Caleb Williams there. It's gonna be very similar
to the quarterbacks that are going and at it in
the AFC towards the top of that conference.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
I don't know if he's there yet.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
So I mean, yeah, you're telling me that the Panthers,
if they win this division against a five seed maybe
like Seattle. I'm feeling decent. So I'm feeling decent, dude.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
I love it. Yes, that's the Wired. Okay, it's Wired.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
Wesed Walker here on Sports Radio ninety two to seven
WFNZ Tired make the playoffs, Wired go on a damn run.
That's what we're here talking about. Here's another question for you.
I wonder how much it matters to make the postseason,
and it feels like I might be trying to twist
the value on its head. I don't want to get
too lost in the sauce on this, but I look
(28:42):
back at some of these other younger teams and I
do wonder just how much it matters in terms of
providing that experience, and I should say applying that experience
from one year to the next, because I do look
at some of these teams flound and I look at
Washington for instance, Watch out Washington's here, baby, Jane Daniel's
about to rex shop all across the league. He's been hurt.
(29:03):
I don't know if I feel like Washington is a
playoff team this year. If Jade Daniels plays every single game.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
That's a good point, because I have thought that all year.
I get that there are with him out, they are
incredibly limited with Mariota, But I have not watched the
rest of that team and been to saying to myself,
my god, this is a team that's just missing a quarterback.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
So you see what the Texans did, And maybe the
Texans isn't a great example because the Texans, they have
been to the playoffs twice with CJ. Stroud as their quarterback,
and they've won two playoff games. Except here they are
battling for dear life to get back in the hunt
after what was a really rough start. Here we are
with k Adams saying braisce Young has just been the
better quarterback compared to CJ, despite CJ having an all
(29:48):
class rookie season. So I do wonder how much can
we apply playoff experience to the next season. Does it
really matter?
Speaker 6 (29:57):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Yes, I think so one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
So I just don't want to end up in a
Washington situation or a Texan situation. And the way I
think they've ended up there is Man's injuries have really
you know, it's taking its toll on Washington Houston. They
went all in once they realized they had their guy
in CJ. And now there are questions as to really
(30:20):
if he is the guy, but they went all in. Oh,
we have a great quarterback. Let's spend all the money
on to Neil Hunter. Let's impair him alongside a Will Anderson.
Let's spend all the money and go after Stefan Diggs
and give up valuable draft assets. You know, let's give
him another weapon in Tank Dell. Like I get all
of that. I just wonder, And they did make the
postseason a couple of times. I just wonder if you
(30:43):
can just go ahead and guarantee that Carolina is going
to be right back in it the next season, or
this is a conversation over our skis. I just do
wonder how crazy valuable it is for Carolina to get
to the postseason this year. If they are able to
dance with the big you can't. You can't think like that.
You can't.
Speaker 5 (31:00):
And again, as you said, injuries played a big role
at it. Why did the Texans fall off last year?
They literally had no resur Why has Washington fallen off
this year? In large part it's because they don't have
Jayden Daniels out there. Jayden Daniels is one of the
better quarterbacks in the league.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
I mean, he is clearly top ten.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
I think with the year off, people will be having
the debates with you know guys, especially like if Drake
may wins the MVP, you're gonna probably put him in
the top five. But in coming into this season, you
could have made the argument that Jayden Daniels was top five.
So those two teams, yeah, they've fallen off. What about
the rest of the teams that have made the playoffs?
(31:43):
There are a lot of teams that they've been able
to build on that and create a you know, culture
of success, of expectations that you're going to make the playoffs.
It's never a bad thing to make the playoffs. Oh,
it's something that can carry over for next year, because
you never know when the NFC is going to have
(32:06):
what happened what's happening to the AFC this year? Where
right now you look at the teams that are at
the top of the AFC, none of them have playoff experience.
So if you're the Panthers, you're thinking that the more
experience that we can get on this roster by making
the playoffs, the better because if the NFC, let's say
(32:26):
the NFC does this next year, well, hey, we made
the playoffs last year.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
We know what it's like to be there.
Speaker 5 (32:32):
All of a sudden, we got a little bit of
an advantage on some of these other teams that that
may be making the playoffs for the first time in
a long time.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
I will preface this next point and end the segment
with saying, you are right that you can't think this way,
and I get it, but I am a sports content creator.
I have to think this way to bring up what
I believe to be interesting points next season. You're right
about not needing to go to the dark place. I
appreciate that, sir. Accept here's the question, though, if the
(33:02):
Panthers make the playoffs, and they let's just say they
make the playoffs, they lose the playoff game. Let's say
that happens. The expectations they do rise for Dave Canalis,
but regardless.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
No, they are.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
But I don't think they rise as much as they
would if he didn't make the playoffs, because then the
goal the next year simply becomes make the postseason. So
if you make the postseason this year, now is it
fair to ask more, Hey made the postseason last year,
Let's win a damn game and get to the conference championship.
And then if you don't because you barely make it,
(33:37):
and they would barely make it this year, that's the
only scenario they're not going to be solidly in. You
have to win the division. There is no wildcard play
for you, in my opinion, So then it does raise
expectations for Dave Canalis and this team next year, and
if they don't reach it at the end of that season,
now it's like, oh god, we didn't make it. It
was too I just look.
Speaker 5 (33:57):
The thing is, you can't if you're a Panther fan,
you can't let your expectations get out of hand.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
You gotta see what it looks like in the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (34:06):
If they go to the playoffs and they get let's
say they get skunked, they get just get blown out
of the building, then your expectation the next year should
really just be to let's make it back and then
we'll see what happens from there.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
You're right, we're not if they're making a run.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
And that's the other thing for Washington fans, what was
your expectation coming into this year. If your expectation was
that your team should make the super Bowl, you're your bat.
Believe Craisy. A lot of people people picked them. There
were people that picked out In my opinion, from an
outsider's perspective, that should not have been your expectation. Your
(34:44):
expectation should have been, let's win this division again, Let's
get back to maybe the NFC championship, and then we'll
go from there. Because for them, it's it's just about
building a foundation.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
That's what the Panthers need.
Speaker 5 (34:58):
Let's become that can distant playoff team that always makes
the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
I love it. You become the one.
Speaker 5 (35:04):
That's, oh, we need to make deep runs, like you
can't get there through one year guys, I'm sorry. Even
if you make the playoffs, you can't get to that
point next year where you're saying, well, the expectation is
they should go to the NFC Championship game.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
You're nuts, Bagel guy says Walker stopped being a weenie.
Expectations should raise every year. All right, I'm sorry for
being a person that visits from Hunts. Yes, and Stanford
P is not wrong. Walker's a Hornets fan. He's always
going to go to the dark place. That's true. You
know me, Well, Stanford P. One more segment to go
before we close out the one o'clock hour. Sports Radio
(35:37):
ninety two to seven WFNZ Weston Walker Backsports Radio ninety
two to seven WFNZ. Thanks to Flounder for helping me
out today and thanks to Hunter Bailey for doing the same.
He's actually on the phone lines right now to discuss
(35:59):
the Charlie forty nine ers past season.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Only one victory, but we got the one.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
Maybe I'm just glad we didn't go defeat it all right,
where we didn't get a single victory, we did get one,
and I do believe in Tim Albin. I believe a
lot of Charlotte forty nine Ers. Fans still believe in
Tim Albin with the impressive resume he brings with him,
with what he did at Ohio. Hopefully we get more
than the one victory next season, and they're fundraising over
there at Charlotte to ensure that. Let's talk more about
(36:26):
it with Hunter Bailey, Charlotte Observer, also the host of
the Highway forty nine podcast. Follow Hunter on Twitter at
Hunter Underscore Bailey forty five.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Hunter.
Speaker 4 (36:36):
I got to ask you, man, how are you feeling
out that the Charlotte football season is over? Are you
happy about it? Like, how are your feelings today about it?
Speaker 3 (36:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (36:45):
Man, definitely glad that one is over. Definitely. So I
started covering the team, as you know, back in twenty eighteen,
and they've had some ups and downs. So this was
definitely the worst season I've covered as far as the
on field product. So yeah, man, a couple of beers
after that game end.
Speaker 4 (37:01):
So you deserve them, buddy, You deserve them with all
the different ways that you cover Charlotte. And I hate
even talking about the program like that. I know you
do too, because it again, I don't I don't think
it's necessarily a reflection on Tim Albin's coaching ability. I
still believe him. I mean in him every sense of
the word. Like I do believe that he can turn
this around.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Hunter.
Speaker 4 (37:21):
You know it, man, anytime we talk with anybody over there,
it's all about money. It's like, I know, this is
a stupid question, but just to have a couple of
people stress the importance of it. Do you think that
this is the biggest thing holding Charlotte back right now?
Is it the money compared to every other program in
(37:41):
the conference. And we'll get to the fundraising aspects of
all of it. But every time I talk to anybody,
everybody in power, a decision maker over there, to me,
the biggest thing that they focus on is fundraising and
money being the most important thing they need to do.
Speaker 6 (37:56):
Yeah, I mean we've talked about it someone here. When
you look around the conference, the top end spenders in
the league, you're looking at schools like Memphis, Tulane, South Florida.
That's just been kind of unrealistic for what Charlotte's had
from a budgetary standpoint, Like this season, right around one
point four million on the roster. The seasons under pog
(38:20):
weren't much higher than that. Are kind of in that
same ballpark. And like I said, when you look across
the league, there are some teams that you want to emulate.
I think North Texas, who's playing Saturday playing Tulane on
Saturday for the conference championship, is one of those schools.
Knowing that their budget is in that around the two
to three million dollar mark, so that's closer to the
waterline for Charlotte. So absolutely, to go back to your question,
(38:44):
money's the biggest deal for the program. I think my
favorite thing that they're doing right now is there being
transparent walker. They're finally putting out this is what we've got,
this is the goal we're working towards. Help us out
because when you look at a school like Charlotte, we
talk about one hundred and sixty thousand plus living alumni,
a lot of them in the area. A lot of
(39:04):
people want to see this program succeed. And when you
go from a five win season where it felt like
there was some hope in Spurts, you look last year
beating ECU the way that they did, winning a few
games from the American to now, okay, you're back to
square one. You don't have an athletic director in the
seat right now, a permanent one. You've got a head
(39:24):
coach that's the most proven that they've had, but you're
also coming off of one of the worst seasons that
they've had. So what is it to believe in? And
I guess how do you? How do you kind of
funnel that into the pocket to program and be able
to put a quality product on the field. Man, There's
a lot of movement pieces, but definitely I agree with
you the money is the biggest thing right now.
Speaker 4 (39:44):
Talking about the fundraising of all of it. Tim Albin
and the forty nine ers posted a fundraising video discussing
their Fuel the Future initiative. They have a goal to
raise five million dollars, and you reported that Charlotte had
already report raised excuse me, three point three million towards
their goal, which is significant. Now, the five million you
also reported isn't just going towards roster construction, but it
(40:07):
will fund program upgrades. Can you tell us a little
bit more on how they'll be using this five million
dollars hopefully assuming I'll knock on one, assuming that they actually
raise it.
Speaker 6 (40:18):
Yeah, so it's going to span a few things. I
mentioned the or you mentioned the roster construction. I think
that'll be the biggest slice of the pie, putting being
able to go out and pay players in this singular
transfer portal window which opens on January second, So that's
full speed ahead towards that right now. It's a month
from today, so the biggest slice of that pie will
(40:39):
go to that. Outside of there, there's program upgrades. I
don't have all the specifics. I actually talked with Tim
Alvin this morning and he talked through a little bit
of what it would be, whether it's the coaching salaries,
whether it's upgrades to the staff with the nutrition side
of things, the training side. They're trying to find utilize
this money to do everything that can to make the
(41:00):
program better. Because we talked about, hey, it's just the
money for the on field product, the nil what's going
in the player's pockets. But that goes directly back to
the nutrition, the way that they're feeding the athletes, the
way that they're training, and you're seeing, in comparison to
the other schools in the league, the injuries continuing to
stack up, and a lot of those things point right
(41:21):
back towards what I mentioned the nutrition the training aspects.
So it's good to see that they've got Like I say,
they're being transparent about, Hey, this is what we need
to get to where we want to be. Because you
look at Tim Alvin, He's had two head coaching stops
prior Northwestern Oklahoma State in the nineties. His first season
there he went five and five. Then not Ohio in
(41:41):
twenty twenty one. His first season there, he goes three
and nine. In the seasons following that, he's fifty and thirteen,
the Matt Championship, a few Coaching Coaching the Year awards
along the way. So we've, like I say, we've seen
that he can do it, and I think it's good
that they're being proactive and saying exactly what they need
to get there.
Speaker 4 (42:00):
Hunter, you also reported this season's roster valuation was around
one point four million dollars. Like, I know you're a journalist.
I don't want you to speculate too much on this,
but would it be safe to assume that that roster
valuation for twenty twenty six would be double the one
point four Like, are we getting to three million? Do
you have any ideas on how you think this money
(42:22):
would be spread around?
Speaker 6 (42:24):
Yeah, I think it's got it's definitely has to double,
you know, if they want to compete, I think that
they should get closer to the triple. If you can
get around four million, you're gonna feel pretty good about
the players that you're gonna put on the field here
at Charlotte. And I mean Tim Alvin's talked about it.
They've got to schedule differently in the future. There's no
reason they should be playing Georgia in November. Although one
(42:45):
point nine millions that has help out a program like this.
But next year they've got Ole Miss, they go to Louisville,
They've got some big opportunities. In the American Conference itself
is about some completely reshape. Knowing that for the top
coaches just left the league too. I mean, the two
coaches coaching in the conference championship game on Saturday won't
(43:05):
be in the conference secture. So there's going to be
a large turnover and you hope, hey, Charlotte can get
back in the race. And I think that starts obviously with,
like I say, the players that put on the field.
They're going to have to address the quarterback position both
sides of the line of scrimmage, and then potentially even
a play caller, Man, it's a lot up in the
air right now.
Speaker 4 (43:25):
Yeah, well, that's what I wanted to ask you about most.
I mean, following you at Hunter Underscore Bailey forty five
and the must follow that it is for all Charlotte
forty nine ers fans. I think that's the thing I
saw you complained about the most along with other forty
nine ers fans. It was play calling. It seemed like
you were pretty beside yourself there. What do you expect
to happen there going into next season?
Speaker 6 (43:45):
Yeah, so it doesn't sound like there's going to be
a change here. I think Tim Alman is pretty solid
in the camp of they've got to upgrade the talent
and the jury. The evaluation they weren't able to get,
I guess as much of an evaluation as they truly wanted,
only having their starting quarterback for three three and a
half games this year. So obviously a ton of injuries.
(44:06):
We've detailed that on this show. But yeah, the play
calling this season, Walker just hurt my brain a lot
of times. They averaged fourteen point three points per game
this year. That's bottom five in the country. That's statistically
the worst offense that Charlotte's ever had in their thirteen years.
You look at that and say, Okay, so many details
(44:28):
go into this, so many different variables, but what is
the same. And you look at ty Fitch. The last
time he called an offense with twenty twenty at Vanderbilt,
they averaged fourteen point six points per game. Not much better,
very similar results, very similar issues. Now he's been in
oc spanning seven or eight schools, He's made a ton
of stops along the way, and before he came to Charlotte,
(44:51):
he had spent time as an analyst with Ohio State
and then LSU. But watching some of the lack of creativity,
the struggle, their inability to run the ball right at
eighty yards per game, which is the worst in the
American among the bottom three in the entire FBS. It's
frustrating to watch knowing that they're not maximizing on what
(45:14):
they've got. And analysts that cover the games, the play
by players, they're all picking up on the fact that
Charlotte much of the time does not get the ball
to their best players. Now, we saw Javin Nicholas have
a huge line share of the targets. We saw Sean
Brown who led the team and receiving last year receptions
at least kind of come on towards the end of
(45:35):
the season. But it took them the entire non conference
to figure out that Sean Brown was a good football
player and he should play. It's interesting to watch kind
of how all of that came together. But yeah, the
play calling, you saw the defense kind of take a turn,
in my opinion, improving at least a little bit, taking
the ball away from some of the best teams in
the league with the inability to score and like I say,
(45:58):
I mean the three and outrage over thirty percent. The
biggest thing to me, if you're an offensive coordinator and
you're you have scripted drives right opening game scripts the
first drive out of the half against FYS competition this year, Walker,
Charlotte did not score a touchdown in any of those
scenarios all year. They only had three points all cities
(46:20):
on the opening drives, And to me, that points directly
to the guy calling the plays, and that's Todd.
Speaker 4 (46:25):
Fitch Hunter Bailey joining us here on WESN Walker talking
about the Charlotte forty nine ers football season and what
is expected of them moving forward. Follow him on Twitter
at Hunter Underscore Bailey forty five. Also follow his work
on The Charlotte Observer and listen to his podcast, The
Highway forty nine Podcast. There's still a lot to get
to here, so we'll have you on certainly a few
(46:46):
more times, basketball updates as well as we move on. Hunter,
you do a great job as always. Man, we appreciate
you and go have a few more beers after covering
this season.
Speaker 6 (46:56):
I appreciate it, man, Thanks good stuff.
Speaker 4 (46:58):
We'll put that on our website wfnz dot com. Also
just search Wes and Walker anywhere you get your podcast.
Coming up next, it's the two o'clock hour. We begin
at the two o'clock hour with the Live Wire on
Sports Radio ninety two seven FM.
This is the Wesson Walker Show, and a moral lesson
is told at the end of each episode.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
One notable episode is one called The Price, in which
a boy buys a drug called spin. He was smoking
that spin It's Wes, becomes addicted to it and dies
of an overdose. We need Walk cartoons like that these
days for these badass and Walker.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Would these kids die of drugs?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yes, so they can learn their lesson and know not
to do it. If somebody fiction or dies, they'll learn
not to do it in nonfiction.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
You know what I'm saying, man.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
For that reason, Marshall braistaf Tech text New Texas is
straight by you. I had to act some figure bracet off,
but Ma Mar.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Wouldn't let me get tex hit only on Sports Radio
ninety two point seven FM wfn Z.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Oh come on, mom, why didn't you do this? They
said it was too demonic. Well maybe it's because the
kid died of drugs. Weston Walker, Sports Radio ninety two
to seven wfn Z.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
No Wes for the next couple of hours.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
For the next week, he's taken some time off thanks
to Flounder for helping us out doing a whole bunch
of stuff for us. Producing the show and also co hosting,
and we're broadcasting live from the Chandler Volta studios. Just
as a reminder, go to CV Injurylawed dot com, CB
Injury lad dot com.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
One call.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
That's all the Carolinas personal injury lawyers. We appreciate Chandler
Volta for helping us out over here at w FNZ.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
All right, I don't want to waste any time.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
I almost talked about this entire topic at the top
of the show, so let's just dive right on in
time now for the campus cod on a Tuesday. I'm
still gonna keep attempting it. That's really tried. Yeah, that
was a for effort. Yesterday was better.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Thank you a for effort.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
ACC SEC Challenge it's tonight. Last year, as I mentioned earlier,
the ACC they won two games compared to the SEC's
fourteen victories into only twenty four. The year prior, the
first year of the ACC SEC College Basketball Challenge, they
were tied. Both teams won seven games of pop not
so much last year. As I just mentioned, I think
(02:11):
that this is a challenge where the ACC has a
great opportunity to capitalize and you have a bunch of
really interesting games, a bunch of ranked matchups between both
It feels like, correct me if I'm wrong. I feel
like the ACC is getting more respect coming into this
season than they did last year. Yes, and I think
that's true even of the year prior. So you have
(02:33):
a couple of ranked matchups as I mentioned, Duke and
Florida and Cameron Indoor Kentucky North Carolina tonight nine thirty,
that's in Lexington. Usually we've seen a bunch of neutral
side games between these two programs, but this one is
going to be played at Rupp Arena. That's the nightcap,
and then tomorrow you have Arkansas hosting Louisville. That's a
twenty five to six matchup. And then those are the
(02:56):
three games where you have both teams ranked like not bad.
NC State just fell out of the top twenty five
for losing a couple of times out in their tournament,
which I'm sure was devastating to you over there, Flounder.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Oh that's my heart.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
If they beat Auburn, it would go a long way
into getting them back in the top twenty five. Auburn
is ranked twentieth. What are your thoughts heading into the
ACC SEC Challenge as a whole and how much respect
can the ACC gain with a nice showing game.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
Oh, they can gain a tremendous amount of respect. This
is where you can start to have the conversation about
the ACC being back if they win this event. Now,
do I think they're going to win this event? I
don't know about that. Do I think they're going to
compete better? I certainly do think that is the case.
When you look at the thing that's weird is I
(03:42):
don't know how many games you can guarantee that the
ACC is going to win. I think Cal over Utah easy,
very easy. Cal's a much better basketball team than they are.
I mean, I want to think Florida State's better than Georgia,
but that one's still a toss up. I think Wake
(04:02):
Forest beats Oklahoma. I will say that. So, I think
you've got some games right there that you can guarantee.
Then you've got the toss up games. You've got Carolina
and Kentucky tonight. I think that certainly is a toss
up game that could go the way of Carolina, Virginia
Tech and South Carolina. I think that could certainly go
(04:23):
the way of Virginia Tech, especially if they're a true
freshmen that they have plays as well as he's played
to start the year. And then to me, oh, the
other one that I forgot, that's an automatic. Duke's gonna
smash Florida's. Florida's not good. Their backcourt completely rated after
last season. Guys that just went to the they either
(04:44):
went to the NBA or they went to different schools,
like Denzel Aberdeen who went to Kentucky.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Who I really liked, was a huge part of that
second half comeback, and it really.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
Struggled without those guys in the backcourt. So I think
Duke has a lay up there. And then I mean, yeah,
there's some other ones like Miami Ole Miss I feel
like that could be a toss up. There's a lot
more games this year that I feel like can be
toss ups because the only ones that I'm guaranteeing you
on Night one will not go the way of the ACC.
I don't think Pittsburgh is beating Texas A and M,
(05:16):
even though Texas A and M is in great Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Has some horrendous loss.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
Yeah, it's been rough for him so far, and I
will say there is zero chance I think they might compete,
but there is zero chance that Sarahcuse is beating ten
I knew you were.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Going to go there. I know you are. I don't
see it.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
I know you are not high on Syracuse. It is
one of the games that is first mentioned by ESPN
dot com Myron Metcalf to be exact when discussing what
games we should be paying attention to the most. Here's
what he writes. Syracuse had arguably the toughest draw of
the Player's Era Festival, finishing zho to three against number
eight Houston, number twenty one Kansas, and number ten Iowa State.
(05:54):
This game won't be any easier. Tennessee is top twenty
in offense and defense according to Kenpom. But you do
have some interesting guys for Syracuse. They will have to
solve the riddle of some of these impressive players that
Tennessee has every single year. Syracuse, though they're not bad,
they just have a really tough strength to schedule. Maybe
they can get the job done against Tennessee. They are
(06:16):
playing at home against the volunteers. That might help them
out just a little bit. But I would pick Tennessee.
I think you're right about that. I mentioned this at
the top of the broadcast. Man, I just need the
good ACC programs to take care of business.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
That's what I want.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
And I'm talking about even the programs over the last
twenty years that have established themselves as some of the
best teams within the conference. Louisville tall task, I get it.
Arkansas on the road. You are ranked higher than they are.
I believe that you are better than Arkansas. I need
you to get this win. That's a big win for
the conference, right, that's a must have. I think so too.
North Carolina Kentucky struggling. You got them on the ropes,
(06:55):
even if it is on the road. Even if they
don't perform all that well against Kentucky over the last matchups.
They're three and seven in the last ten matchups against
the Wildcats. A lot of that's been on neutral site,
so at RUP maybe that's a little bit different. I
think North Carolina is got to have it if you're
gonna win this challenge, got to have it. Duke against Florida, Man,
that's so those are to me. When you talk about
(07:18):
the ranked opponents. When you have both opponents ranked coming
into a matchup, and all of them, in my opinion,
favor the ACC, that's already a nice start, and then
now can you win some of these other games in
the middle of all of it. I really hope they
get it done, just so there's no excuse for the
committee to point to and say, well, you know the
acc that the days of them reigning supreme are long gone.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Now, man, we got some talent.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Now you have those teams that maybe can get these
victories like of Virginia they play on Wednesday, and Virginia
against Texas, that would be a that would be a
good victory for the PLA.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Let's get it. Let's get that one. Guys like Texas,
I get it.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
They got Sean Miller, They've had some moments they and
they beat NC State eight out in Maui. But that's
one where if you're Virginia, let's take that one and
show people that you are a legitimate team that's gonna
be competing to make the NCAA Tournament this year.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Yeah, so Virginia having been good n C stayed at Auburn, Like, look, is.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
It important to you?
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Because I see Myrin Goodman right in that Fitty doesn't
think this is all that much of a big deal,
which I'd be interested as to why Doctor Quad's feels
that ways inter Us, do you think it's a big
deal for the conference to at least to give us
eight wins in this thing? Oh Man, eight wins that
now that might be win the Challenge.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
That's what I'm asking you.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
I don't think it's important that they win the Challenge,
but I think you need to be more competitive than
last year. You won two got to games in this
tournament in this challenge last year, so this year you're
just hoping for a little bit better. And there are
teams in this conference that I think are better. We
just talked about some of those teams that could go
a long way towards helping them. Maybe a team like
(08:57):
SMU team's undefeated so far this year. Now I don't
know how great they are, but they go on the
road to take on Vanderbilt.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Could they win that game? That would be big for
the ACC.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
This matters, guys, like in terms of the reputation of
the conference and what it means for them in the
net rankings. You need to have some important wins here
in this challenge in order to bolster up the reputation
of this league, because where else are you gonna get that?
Speaker 3 (09:26):
There?
Speaker 5 (09:26):
Are some teams that play tough at of conference schedules,
but there's a lot of teams that they're playing soft
non conference schedules. There's some teams that have lost some
really bad games already in this conference. So this challenge
really does matter. You need a strong showing.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
There are eight teams in the ACC right now with
one or fewer losses. Some of the teams that aren't
in that category include NC State, who is talented, even
if I don't know about the reckoning coming this year,
but they are talentalented. We know that Wake Forest at
six and two. A couple of their losses have been
heartbreakers against good competition, and Syracuse they have three losses
(10:10):
and every single one of those losses have come against
top eighteen or twenty ranked programs Kansas I think was
twenty one if I'm not mistaken, so top twenty one
ranked programs, all of those losses for Syracuse. So if
you have eight teams in the ACC with one loss
or fewer, and you have those other teams that I
just mentioned that have lost to either good competition or
we know to be talented, man, I know a lot
(10:31):
of ACC fans are on the text line saying, Walker,
I get your optimism, I just don't see it happening
for this conference.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
I'm not so sure. I think you can.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
I think it's possible for this conference to win the
ACC SEC Challenge, and I think that would go a
long way in gaining some respect, not even from how
much does it matter to us because we care about
it so much standpoint, but from a hey bracketologist, y'all
are going to have a hard time keeping the ACC
squads out if we can go back to this challenge
and say the ACC one against all those SEC apparties.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Because they went back to it last year.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
Man, when it came to see they said, look at
how bad the ACC SEC Challenge was. That shows you
that it's just a different level of competition. You want
to prove that that is not the case this year,
that you can at least hang around with the SEC,
and that you're on par with a conference like the
Big twelve something like that. I think they are on
par with that type of conference. I don't know that
(11:26):
they're better than the SEC, but yeah, is it possible
that they win this. It certainly is possible, much more
possible than last season.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Would I go in expecting it. I would not just.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Give the committee less excuses to keep you out. That's
what I'm asking. This goes a long way for the
next two days. This goes a long way in depriving
the committee from excuses as to why the ACC should
not be included in March Madness. That'll do it for
the campus Kauna. Coming up next, how much of a
Panther's playoff conversation are we allowed to have? Realistic Sports
(12:00):
Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ, WESN Walker Back Sports
Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ. Thanks for texting us
(12:23):
on the FanDuel text line seven oh four five seven
oh ninety six. Ten people writing in about some college
basketball tonight. Salty Pirate says ACC better start winning in
basketball because they're going to lose their P four card.
Get out of here, salty Pirate, you're doing always salty?
Are always salty? S Aren't you dying to be in
this dying conference? Supposedly though, who's your daddy? Says ACC
(12:46):
is scared of the Big Ten challenge? ACC is still
weak sauce he spelled week w E E K.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
By the way, Yeah, we're playing the best conference in
all of college basketball, which is definitely the SEC.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
It is not the Big Ten.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
But we're scared Antwine. The mayor man says, damn, this
is crazy, the acc used to run at college basketball.
We're trying to get back, Antwine. That's why I wanted
to happen to process, That's why I want it to happen.
And I do think the acc realized, yeah, man, we
used to be good at this. Let's just go ahead
and spend more money on it and get back to
really caring about the things that matter to this region
(13:23):
of the country, which is we care a lot about
college basketball around here. And I get that college football
has taken over in a way just because football is
a culture. It's not a sport. But college basketball still matters.
It still has some culture like tendencies around here, especially
within the state of North Carolina. And c State told you, yeah,
we want to care about basketball. That was a fun
(13:43):
Final Four run we had. I'd like to get close
to that again. So let's spend a bunch of money
on Will Wade, and let's give him a bunch of
money to spend on all of these recruits, so a
potential reckoning could happen, and Duke We know they've been
doing things the right way infrastructurally speaking for quite time.
North Carolina feels like they finally decided all right, you know,
(14:03):
we need to get a little bit with the times
and provide some consistency with this basketball program ourselves. This
would go a long way in providing some evidence of that.
You had the win against Kansas, big win, no doubt, huge.
Can you give us another one before we really hit
conference play to establish some level of dominance along with
Duke some of these other teams like Louisville that are
(14:25):
going to be atop the conference. If you can be
a team that has those two wins to point to
Kentucky and Kansas, man like those teams still carry a
panache that goes a long way. Well, Buddy, I think
you can start to feel good about what this Heels
teams can do in acc Well.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
The big thing about it is that if you'd win tonight,
you are guaranteed a quad one win. I cannot see
a scenario where Kentucky drops below seventy fifth in the net.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
That would be absolutely stunning.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
That would be one of the worst seasons that we've
seen from Kentucky in a long, long time. I don't
think that's gonna happen. I think there's too much talent
on that roster. The Kansas win, that's the problem is
that that win is great unless they stay ranked in
the top thirty. Because you played that game at home,
it wouldn't be a quad one win. Is it impossible
(15:17):
for them to fall out of the top thirty. No,
they've done it the last couple of years right where
they've struggled in conference play. So this is a huge
opportunity for Carolina. You get this one, then you've you know,
got opportunities at home against Georgetown. Now, I don't believe
that Georgetown will be ranked in the top thirty in
the net when it's all said and done.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
I think they're a better team this year.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
They can make the tournament, which certainly helps as well
winning against tournament teams. But you know, I think Ohio
State could that be a game that maybe.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Is Quad one as well.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
Like there's other opportunities out there, but this one would
be the one that for sure seals it that you
have that quad one win before you go into conference play, because,
as we've found out the last couple years, we may
think that the conference is better, But when you get
into conference play, you might find out that there are
a lot of duds in the conference and you don't
(16:09):
have nearly as many opportunities as you'd like.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
Seven oh four five, seven oh ninety six ten. Feel
free to join in on the conversation. Let's get back
to the Carolina Panthers swing of things and ask about
the playoff conversation.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Are we allowed to have it for real? For real?
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Because again, just thinking about the chances of this team
getting there. You see on ESPN dot com Bill Barnwell
is writing about the chances some of the best playoff
races that we're going to have down the stretch, and
then you go to the NFC South and it's pretty weak.
Tampa Bay, they were a really good football team at
the very beginning of the season when they started to
(16:46):
even if they were only winning by one possession, they
were still winning a bunch of games in a row.
They experienced a bunch of injuries and all those one
score wins they came home to roost. Now they're here here,
they are battling injuries. Maybe they're not even all that
much better than Carolina. And that's still a question that
I have like I I did a hit for bet
MGM and it was before the San Francisco.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Gosh, everybody's having you on man.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Well, no, this is I don't think that's the only
you're doing. It's broadcast. You're on bet MGM, you gotbas
and Gilio. I mean, it's just I guess that is
run dude.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Yeah, perhaps I need yeah that that seems like I'm
patting myself too much on the back. Yeah, I was
on bet MGM. That's a big spot and that's it's
It's fine anyways. I really what I wanted to say
was that I had a cold take. I thought I
thought it might get reported to cold take because I
asked before the San Francisco game, or yeah, are we
(17:43):
sure that Tampa is a better football team than the Panthers?
And then they go out and they performed the way
that they did against the forty nine ers. I was like,
all right, well, okay, maybe they maybe they aren't and
I got a little too ahead of my skis. Now
fast forward a week, the Panthers get the win against
the and the Buccaneers almost lost to the Cardinals. I
did pick the Cardinals to win that game. I felt
(18:04):
like Arizona could possibly do it, and the Cardinals are
the scary team that doesn't actually win any games, but
they're gonna play you close. So I thought maybe it
would happen against Tampa, but it didn't. Even so, I
don't watch what happened against the Cardinals and think, oh, okay,
Tampa Bay. Yep, they're right back on top, and there
is a significant gap between the two.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
I don't feel that way. No you shouldn't.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
So if I don't feel that way, and there's two
games coming up against that team that I'm not sure
is all that much better than Carolina, better at all?
To me, it does feel like we actually have a
realistic playoff conversation we should be having around Carolina.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
You are a half a game out of first place
in your division. There is no scenario where you should
not be talking about possibly making the playoffs when you're
that close.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
You're a good football team. I'm sorry, that's how it works.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
And you could say, well, this is a parody filled
NFL year. Oh this is not normal year of football.
Doesn't matter. You're seven and six, You're right there. So
I think it is a question as to who is
the better team. Here's My thing about the about Tampa
even some of their wins. Go back and look early
in the season, they're winning every game at the Horn.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
I mean they almost lost to the Jets. Yeah, they did.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
That's that tells you that this team isn't necessarily great.
We didn't want to see it early in the year
because I think a lot of us were saying, please
anybody but Philly, please be better in this conference, and
so we wanted to have that conversation. Is Tampa better
than them? The ultimate answer is no, they are not
on that level. Nobody in this division is necessarily on
(19:45):
that level. Although Philly starting to look a little suspect,
which I love, but I do think yet you should
be fully in the thick of having that playoff conversation
because now when you look at the team that the
Panthers a beat, the Rams clearly better than Tampa. The Packers,
(20:06):
I think, clearly better than Tampa. Now, I don't think
like the the MVP odds we were going through him
this morning on DraftKings. They got Jordan Love fourth in
the MVP race. I think that's a little crazy. I
don't think they're having that great of a season. Well, really,
it's just there still eight three and one.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Well, really, it's just because it's a two person race
at this point, I'm not sure who should be in
the conversation outside of Drake may and Stafford. You could
go to Jonathan Taylor. I love Jonathan Taylor's come back,
he's nowhere near it. Well, and you've even seen the
last few games. He has not had the crazy numbers
that he was putting up the first I guess what,
ten games of the season. He's fallen back a little bit. JSN.
(20:44):
I just don't know how a receiver is ever going
to be a real threat, and then he only had
what was it twenty yards this past time out. It's
gonna be christ McCaffrey JSN, and Jonathan Taylor in contention
for Offensive Player of the Year, which is essentially who's
the best offensive player that's not a quarterback.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
That's who we give that to.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
MVP's going to go to a quarterback, except maybe a
two thousand yard back, and I don't think Taylor's going
to reach that after what we've seen the last couple
of games. Therefore, it's Drake and it's Matt Stafford. To
your point, though, yeah, Baker Mayfield used to be a
part of it, and he's not anymore, and like he's
fallen all the way off, like we're he's not needed
(21:24):
even like eighth.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
So it's not like he's awful. But at the same time,
he hasn't been He hasn't been where he was at
the start of the season.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
No, but that's a We had him as the MVP
winner right over the first four or five weeks and
now it's it's a far cry from those conversations that
we were having because the team isn't winning nearly as much. So,
like we have Stanford Pee who writes in Okay, this
team is a roller coaster until they put it together consistently.
(21:51):
All Caps playoffs are not a part of my vocabulary.
Except what I'm saying is it's not even really all
about the Panthers as to if they make the playoffs.
A lot of this does have to do with Tampa
Bay and your belief or lack of belief in them.
Carolina can be inconsistent. I have no clue what to
expect from this team. Mena Kaim said it right. The
(22:13):
first rule of picking the Panthers games is that you
don't pick Panthers games just can't do it.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
They beat the Rams.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
Well, if you pick against the spread, even Panther games,
you're cynical.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
You're living dangerously. You like danger. That's what happens if
you pick Panthers games. But really it's Tampa who Yeah,
a lot of their recent losses have come against really
good football teams. They don't have that treacherous of a
schedule left. They have the Saints this weekend or I'm sorry,
they're actually on a bye this weekend. Tampa is alongside
(22:43):
Carolina and then they play the Saints on I'm sorry,
I was reading seventeenth. They do have the Saints this weekend.
I apologize, Saints this weekend. Falcons on a short week,
maybe the Falcons could pull off the upset. I wouldn't
be the house thing. And it's two games against the Panthers,
it is against the Dolphins. I just I don't see
(23:04):
that and think, ooh, Tampa's about to destroy everybody. Now, man,
I think Carolina's got a shot. And it's again not
because of all of this belief that this is the
time where we see consistent production from Carolina. It's that
I don't believe in Tampa and that matters just as
much when trying to figure out who wins the division.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
Consistency does not mean anything when it comes to winning
a division that might not be great. Look at the
AFC South, you think that's the most consistent division. The
Jaguars are one of the most inconsistent teams at eight
and four that I have ever seen. I have no
idea what that team is, no idea, and yet they
(23:42):
are still leading that division. If the Colts win that division,
do we consider them a consistent team?
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Now?
Speaker 5 (23:49):
Part of that is And look, man, I love giving
flak to Daniel Jones because I don't want him to succeed.
I will come out and admit that as a Giants fan,
I don't want it to work out.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Anyone to do double way before.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
You well, but as a Giant fan, you don't want
to admit that maybe you gave up on the quarterback
at the wrong time, even though I don't think it
would have worked in New York. But he's got he's
got a broken fibula and the dude's playing on that.
So they're not gonna be that consistent. The Texans, they're
not gonna be that consistent. And guess what do you
think that any of their fans are holding back and saying, man,
(24:22):
we can't talk about playoffs till we're consistent. Hell no,
you talk about the playoffs. You are a half game
out of first place in this division. You gotta start
having that conversation. And the other thing that I think
you really have to hammer home here is again the
type of wins that are on the schedule for the Panthers.
If they were beating teams that's stunk like' If you're
(24:44):
just beating up on all the teams you're supposed to
beat up on, then you can have the conversation about, well,
how good really are they?
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Are they a playoff team?
Speaker 5 (24:52):
They've beaten two teams that might just be the two
best teams in the NFC.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
So you gotta have that conversation. Man, If tamp, did
you know what's funny? I've been coming up with a tired,
slash wired point about the Panthers because you look at
the NFL. You brought up parody earlier. I know people
hate the word parody because it brings up all sorts
of wild takes, but I did not expect in one
(25:22):
full season Josh Allen and his team Pat Mahomes and
his team, Lamar Jackson and his team to come this
close to the pack. In fact, they're not even close.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
JD. How about that division? Get that mediocre division?
Speaker 5 (25:36):
So damn Bengals are still potentially talking about the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
So I just listed a bunch of AFC teams, right,
and I get it. But when we talk parody even
you go to the NFC and you see what the
playoff picture is. Man, Look, Philadelphia, as you mentioned, it
doesn't the Rams are still the team that you would
trust most in my opinion, even after a loss to
the Carolina pick. I agree with that. So you trust
the Rams. You look at the playoff picture in the NFC.
(26:02):
Chicago is nine and three, the Rams are nine and three,
Philadelphia eight and four, Tampa the last division winner is
a four seed seven and five, Seattle nine and three,
Green Bay eight and three, San Francisco nine and four.
So you've got some teams that you feel a lot
better about as a whole in the NFC than you
do the AFC. Except here's the thing, the tired conversation.
(26:23):
If the Panthers can make the playoffs, wired can Carolina
win a first round playoff game?
Speaker 3 (26:30):
If they get there. Ah, let's get crazy. Let's do
it anyday.
Speaker 5 (26:35):
If somehow they got the forty nine ers in the
playoffs and they beat them, oh my god, Oh a
meltdown on this show, Wes and Walker complete melt Chandler
Vault Studios.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
I apologize where I am going to experience an accident
and I will have to call you because I experienced
an accident within your old studios. That would be crazy.
I am visiting CV Injury Law dot com. I will
be giving you one call, that's all. But I think
it's possible. I really do think that that is possible.
Speaker 5 (27:06):
Or they make it there, because again, they're gonna make
it there. Nobody's gonna be expecting it. And I mean,
I don't know. Could you Could you have made the
playoffs while losing in the last week to get this
team motivated and play with their hair on fire like
they always seem to do and still make the playoffs.
(27:26):
I don't know about that, but I mean, I think
it's It's not the craziest thing to say, because, as
I said, you beat two teams that might be the
best teams in this conference. You could say whatever you
want about Chicago, man. I think they're having an amazing season.
Trust me, part of me loves what's going on there
(27:47):
because Ben Johnson's a tar heal, he's one of us. Yeah,
But at the same time, I just don't know if
I trust Caleb Williams there. It's gonna be very similar
to the quarterbacks that are going and at it in
the AFC towards the top of that conference.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
I don't know if he's there yet.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
So I mean, yeah, you're telling me that the Panthers,
if they win this division against a five seed maybe
like Seattle. I'm feeling decent. So I'm feeling decent, dude.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
I love it. Yes, that's the Wired. Okay, it's Wired.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
Wesed Walker here on Sports Radio ninety two to seven
WFNZ Tired make the playoffs, Wired go on a damn run.
That's what we're here talking about. Here's another question for you.
I wonder how much it matters to make the postseason,
and it feels like I might be trying to twist
the value on its head. I don't want to get
too lost in the sauce on this, but I look
(28:42):
back at some of these other younger teams and I
do wonder just how much it matters in terms of
providing that experience, and I should say applying that experience
from one year to the next, because I do look
at some of these teams flound and I look at
Washington for instance, Watch out Washington's here, baby, Jane Daniel's
about to rex shop all across the league. He's been hurt.
(29:03):
I don't know if I feel like Washington is a
playoff team this year. If Jade Daniels plays every single game.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
That's a good point, because I have thought that all year.
I get that there are with him out, they are
incredibly limited with Mariota, But I have not watched the
rest of that team and been to saying to myself,
my god, this is a team that's just missing a quarterback.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
So you see what the Texans did, And maybe the
Texans isn't a great example because the Texans, they have
been to the playoffs twice with CJ. Stroud as their quarterback,
and they've won two playoff games. Except here they are
battling for dear life to get back in the hunt
after what was a really rough start. Here we are
with k Adams saying braisce Young has just been the
better quarterback compared to CJ, despite CJ having an all
(29:48):
class rookie season. So I do wonder how much can
we apply playoff experience to the next season. Does it
really matter?
Speaker 6 (29:57):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Yes, I think so one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
So I just don't want to end up in a
Washington situation or a Texan situation. And the way I
think they've ended up there is Man's injuries have really
you know, it's taking its toll on Washington Houston. They
went all in once they realized they had their guy
in CJ. And now there are questions as to really
(30:20):
if he is the guy, but they went all in. Oh,
we have a great quarterback. Let's spend all the money
on to Neil Hunter. Let's impair him alongside a Will Anderson.
Let's spend all the money and go after Stefan Diggs
and give up valuable draft assets. You know, let's give
him another weapon in Tank Dell. Like I get all
of that. I just wonder, And they did make the
postseason a couple of times. I just wonder if you
(30:43):
can just go ahead and guarantee that Carolina is going
to be right back in it the next season, or
this is a conversation over our skis. I just do
wonder how crazy valuable it is for Carolina to get
to the postseason this year. If they are able to
dance with the big you can't. You can't think like that.
You can't.
Speaker 5 (31:00):
And again, as you said, injuries played a big role
at it. Why did the Texans fall off last year?
They literally had no resur Why has Washington fallen off
this year? In large part it's because they don't have
Jayden Daniels out there. Jayden Daniels is one of the
better quarterbacks in the league.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
I mean, he is clearly top ten.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
I think with the year off, people will be having
the debates with you know guys, especially like if Drake
may wins the MVP, you're gonna probably put him in
the top five. But in coming into this season, you
could have made the argument that Jayden Daniels was top five.
So those two teams, yeah, they've fallen off. What about
the rest of the teams that have made the playoffs?
(31:43):
There are a lot of teams that they've been able
to build on that and create a you know, culture
of success, of expectations that you're going to make the playoffs.
It's never a bad thing to make the playoffs. Oh,
it's something that can carry over for next year, because
you never know when the NFC is going to have
(32:06):
what happened what's happening to the AFC this year? Where
right now you look at the teams that are at
the top of the AFC, none of them have playoff experience.
So if you're the Panthers, you're thinking that the more
experience that we can get on this roster by making
the playoffs, the better because if the NFC, let's say
(32:26):
the NFC does this next year, well, hey, we made
the playoffs last year.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
We know what it's like to be there.
Speaker 5 (32:32):
All of a sudden, we got a little bit of
an advantage on some of these other teams that that
may be making the playoffs for the first time in
a long time.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
I will preface this next point and end the segment
with saying, you are right that you can't think this way,
and I get it, but I am a sports content creator.
I have to think this way to bring up what
I believe to be interesting points next season. You're right
about not needing to go to the dark place. I
appreciate that, sir. Accept here's the question, though, if the
(33:02):
Panthers make the playoffs, and they let's just say they
make the playoffs, they lose the playoff game. Let's say
that happens. The expectations they do rise for Dave Canalis,
but regardless.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
No, they are.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
But I don't think they rise as much as they
would if he didn't make the playoffs, because then the
goal the next year simply becomes make the postseason. So
if you make the postseason this year, now is it
fair to ask more, Hey made the postseason last year,
Let's win a damn game and get to the conference championship.
And then if you don't because you barely make it,
(33:37):
and they would barely make it this year, that's the
only scenario they're not going to be solidly in. You
have to win the division. There is no wildcard play
for you, in my opinion, So then it does raise
expectations for Dave Canalis and this team next year, and
if they don't reach it at the end of that season,
now it's like, oh god, we didn't make it. It
was too I just look.
Speaker 5 (33:57):
The thing is, you can't if you're a Panther fan,
you can't let your expectations get out of hand.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
You gotta see what it looks like in the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (34:06):
If they go to the playoffs and they get let's
say they get skunked, they get just get blown out
of the building, then your expectation the next year should
really just be to let's make it back and then
we'll see what happens from there.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
You're right, we're not if they're making a run.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
And that's the other thing for Washington fans, what was
your expectation coming into this year. If your expectation was
that your team should make the super Bowl, you're your bat.
Believe Craisy. A lot of people people picked them. There
were people that picked out In my opinion, from an
outsider's perspective, that should not have been your expectation. Your
(34:44):
expectation should have been, let's win this division again, Let's
get back to maybe the NFC championship, and then we'll
go from there. Because for them, it's it's just about
building a foundation.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
That's what the Panthers need.
Speaker 5 (34:58):
Let's become that can distant playoff team that always makes
the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
I love it. You become the one.
Speaker 5 (35:04):
That's, oh, we need to make deep runs, like you
can't get there through one year guys, I'm sorry. Even
if you make the playoffs, you can't get to that
point next year where you're saying, well, the expectation is
they should go to the NFC Championship game.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
You're nuts, Bagel guy says Walker stopped being a weenie.
Expectations should raise every year. All right, I'm sorry for
being a person that visits from Hunts. Yes, and Stanford
P is not wrong. Walker's a Hornets fan. He's always
going to go to the dark place. That's true. You
know me, Well, Stanford P. One more segment to go
before we close out the one o'clock hour. Sports Radio
(35:37):
ninety two to seven WFNZ Weston Walker Backsports Radio ninety
two to seven WFNZ. Thanks to Flounder for helping me
out today and thanks to Hunter Bailey for doing the same.
He's actually on the phone lines right now to discuss
(35:59):
the Charlie forty nine ers past season.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Only one victory, but we got the one.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
Maybe I'm just glad we didn't go defeat it all right,
where we didn't get a single victory, we did get one,
and I do believe in Tim Albin. I believe a
lot of Charlotte forty nine Ers. Fans still believe in
Tim Albin with the impressive resume he brings with him,
with what he did at Ohio. Hopefully we get more
than the one victory next season, and they're fundraising over
there at Charlotte to ensure that. Let's talk more about
(36:26):
it with Hunter Bailey, Charlotte Observer, also the host of
the Highway forty nine podcast. Follow Hunter on Twitter at
Hunter Underscore Bailey forty five.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Hunter.
Speaker 4 (36:36):
I got to ask you, man, how are you feeling
out that the Charlotte football season is over? Are you
happy about it? Like, how are your feelings today about it?
Speaker 3 (36:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (36:45):
Man, definitely glad that one is over. Definitely. So I
started covering the team, as you know, back in twenty eighteen,
and they've had some ups and downs. So this was
definitely the worst season I've covered as far as the
on field product. So yeah, man, a couple of beers
after that game end.
Speaker 4 (37:01):
So you deserve them, buddy, You deserve them with all
the different ways that you cover Charlotte. And I hate
even talking about the program like that. I know you
do too, because it again, I don't I don't think
it's necessarily a reflection on Tim Albin's coaching ability. I
still believe him. I mean in him every sense of
the word. Like I do believe that he can turn
this around.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Hunter.
Speaker 4 (37:21):
You know it, man, anytime we talk with anybody over there,
it's all about money. It's like, I know, this is
a stupid question, but just to have a couple of
people stress the importance of it. Do you think that
this is the biggest thing holding Charlotte back right now?
Is it the money compared to every other program in
(37:41):
the conference. And we'll get to the fundraising aspects of
all of it. But every time I talk to anybody,
everybody in power, a decision maker over there, to me,
the biggest thing that they focus on is fundraising and
money being the most important thing they need to do.
Speaker 6 (37:56):
Yeah, I mean we've talked about it someone here. When
you look around the conference, the top end spenders in
the league, you're looking at schools like Memphis, Tulane, South Florida.
That's just been kind of unrealistic for what Charlotte's had
from a budgetary standpoint, Like this season, right around one
point four million on the roster. The seasons under pog
(38:20):
weren't much higher than that. Are kind of in that
same ballpark. And like I said, when you look across
the league, there are some teams that you want to emulate.
I think North Texas, who's playing Saturday playing Tulane on
Saturday for the conference championship, is one of those schools.
Knowing that their budget is in that around the two
to three million dollar mark, so that's closer to the
waterline for Charlotte. So absolutely, to go back to your question,
(38:44):
money's the biggest deal for the program. I think my
favorite thing that they're doing right now is there being
transparent walker. They're finally putting out this is what we've got,
this is the goal we're working towards. Help us out
because when you look at a school like Charlotte, we
talk about one hundred and sixty thousand plus living alumni,
a lot of them in the area. A lot of
(39:04):
people want to see this program succeed. And when you
go from a five win season where it felt like
there was some hope in Spurts, you look last year
beating ECU the way that they did, winning a few
games from the American to now, okay, you're back to
square one. You don't have an athletic director in the
seat right now, a permanent one. You've got a head
(39:24):
coach that's the most proven that they've had, but you're
also coming off of one of the worst seasons that
they've had. So what is it to believe in? And
I guess how do you? How do you kind of
funnel that into the pocket to program and be able
to put a quality product on the field. Man, There's
a lot of movement pieces, but definitely I agree with
you the money is the biggest thing right now.
Speaker 4 (39:44):
Talking about the fundraising of all of it. Tim Albin
and the forty nine ers posted a fundraising video discussing
their Fuel the Future initiative. They have a goal to
raise five million dollars, and you reported that Charlotte had
already report raised excuse me, three point three million towards
their goal, which is significant. Now, the five million you
also reported isn't just going towards roster construction, but it
(40:07):
will fund program upgrades. Can you tell us a little
bit more on how they'll be using this five million
dollars hopefully assuming I'll knock on one, assuming that they actually
raise it.
Speaker 6 (40:18):
Yeah, so it's going to span a few things. I
mentioned the or you mentioned the roster construction. I think
that'll be the biggest slice of the pie, putting being
able to go out and pay players in this singular
transfer portal window which opens on January second, So that's
full speed ahead towards that right now. It's a month
from today, so the biggest slice of that pie will
(40:39):
go to that. Outside of there, there's program upgrades. I
don't have all the specifics. I actually talked with Tim
Alvin this morning and he talked through a little bit
of what it would be, whether it's the coaching salaries,
whether it's upgrades to the staff with the nutrition side
of things, the training side. They're trying to find utilize
this money to do everything that can to make the
(41:00):
program better. Because we talked about, hey, it's just the
money for the on field product, the nil what's going
in the player's pockets. But that goes directly back to
the nutrition, the way that they're feeding the athletes, the
way that they're training, and you're seeing, in comparison to
the other schools in the league, the injuries continuing to
stack up, and a lot of those things point right
(41:21):
back towards what I mentioned the nutrition the training aspects.
So it's good to see that they've got Like I say,
they're being transparent about, Hey, this is what we need
to get to where we want to be. Because you
look at Tim Alvin, He's had two head coaching stops
prior Northwestern Oklahoma State in the nineties. His first season
there he went five and five. Then not Ohio in
(41:41):
twenty twenty one. His first season there, he goes three
and nine. In the seasons following that, he's fifty and thirteen,
the Matt Championship, a few Coaching Coaching the Year awards
along the way. So we've, like I say, we've seen
that he can do it, and I think it's good
that they're being proactive and saying exactly what they need
to get there.
Speaker 4 (42:00):
Hunter, you also reported this season's roster valuation was around
one point four million dollars. Like, I know you're a journalist.
I don't want you to speculate too much on this,
but would it be safe to assume that that roster
valuation for twenty twenty six would be double the one
point four Like, are we getting to three million? Do
you have any ideas on how you think this money
(42:22):
would be spread around?
Speaker 6 (42:24):
Yeah, I think it's got it's definitely has to double,
you know, if they want to compete, I think that
they should get closer to the triple. If you can
get around four million, you're gonna feel pretty good about
the players that you're gonna put on the field here
at Charlotte. And I mean Tim Alvin's talked about it.
They've got to schedule differently in the future. There's no
reason they should be playing Georgia in November. Although one
(42:45):
point nine millions that has help out a program like this.
But next year they've got Ole Miss, they go to Louisville,
They've got some big opportunities. In the American Conference itself
is about some completely reshape. Knowing that for the top
coaches just left the league too. I mean, the two
coaches coaching in the conference championship game on Saturday won't
(43:05):
be in the conference secture. So there's going to be
a large turnover and you hope, hey, Charlotte can get
back in the race. And I think that starts obviously with,
like I say, the players that put on the field.
They're going to have to address the quarterback position both
sides of the line of scrimmage, and then potentially even
a play caller, Man, it's a lot up in the
air right now.
Speaker 4 (43:25):
Yeah, well, that's what I wanted to ask you about most.
I mean, following you at Hunter Underscore Bailey forty five
and the must follow that it is for all Charlotte
forty nine ers fans. I think that's the thing I
saw you complained about the most along with other forty
nine ers fans. It was play calling. It seemed like
you were pretty beside yourself there. What do you expect
to happen there going into next season?
Speaker 6 (43:45):
Yeah, so it doesn't sound like there's going to be
a change here. I think Tim Alman is pretty solid
in the camp of they've got to upgrade the talent
and the jury. The evaluation they weren't able to get,
I guess as much of an evaluation as they truly wanted,
only having their starting quarterback for three three and a
half games this year. So obviously a ton of injuries.
(44:06):
We've detailed that on this show. But yeah, the play
calling this season, Walker just hurt my brain a lot
of times. They averaged fourteen point three points per game
this year. That's bottom five in the country. That's statistically
the worst offense that Charlotte's ever had in their thirteen years.
You look at that and say, Okay, so many details
(44:28):
go into this, so many different variables, but what is
the same. And you look at ty Fitch. The last
time he called an offense with twenty twenty at Vanderbilt,
they averaged fourteen point six points per game. Not much better,
very similar results, very similar issues. Now he's been in
oc spanning seven or eight schools, He's made a ton
of stops along the way, and before he came to Charlotte,
(44:51):
he had spent time as an analyst with Ohio State
and then LSU. But watching some of the lack of creativity,
the struggle, their inability to run the ball right at
eighty yards per game, which is the worst in the
American among the bottom three in the entire FBS. It's
frustrating to watch knowing that they're not maximizing on what
(45:14):
they've got. And analysts that cover the games, the play
by players, they're all picking up on the fact that
Charlotte much of the time does not get the ball
to their best players. Now, we saw Javin Nicholas have
a huge line share of the targets. We saw Sean
Brown who led the team and receiving last year receptions
at least kind of come on towards the end of
(45:35):
the season. But it took them the entire non conference
to figure out that Sean Brown was a good football
player and he should play. It's interesting to watch kind
of how all of that came together. But yeah, the
play calling, you saw the defense kind of take a turn,
in my opinion, improving at least a little bit, taking
the ball away from some of the best teams in
the league with the inability to score and like I say,
(45:58):
I mean the three and outrage over thirty percent. The
biggest thing to me, if you're an offensive coordinator and
you're you have scripted drives right opening game scripts the
first drive out of the half against FYS competition this year, Walker,
Charlotte did not score a touchdown in any of those
scenarios all year. They only had three points all cities
(46:20):
on the opening drives, And to me, that points directly
to the guy calling the plays, and that's Todd.
Speaker 4 (46:25):
Fitch Hunter Bailey joining us here on WESN Walker talking
about the Charlotte forty nine ers football season and what
is expected of them moving forward. Follow him on Twitter
at Hunter Underscore Bailey forty five. Also follow his work
on The Charlotte Observer and listen to his podcast, The
Highway forty nine Podcast. There's still a lot to get
to here, so we'll have you on certainly a few
(46:46):
more times, basketball updates as well as we move on. Hunter,
you do a great job as always. Man, we appreciate
you and go have a few more beers after covering
this season.
Speaker 6 (46:56):
I appreciate it, man, Thanks good stuff.
Speaker 4 (46:58):
We'll put that on our website wfnz dot com. Also
just search Wes and Walker anywhere you get your podcast.
Coming up next, it's the two o'clock hour. We begin
at the two o'clock hour with the Live Wire on
Sports Radio ninety two seven FM.
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