ACC TEAM PREVIEWS: Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, NC State, Duke, Syracuse, Boston College, Cal & Virginia | 2025 College Football - The Solid Verbal College Football

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the solid verbal.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
For me, I'm a man, I'm forty. I've heard so
many players say, well, I want to be happy.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
You want to be happy for a day?

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Edith state, is that?

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Whoo whoom? And then and tie Dan Rubenstein, I want
you to follow after me here.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Okay, do you want me to repeat what you say
or just pay attention?

Speaker 1 (00:26):
I want you to hold up three fingers. Okay, there
it is three, This ACC Part three, baby, Yes, sir,
made it the full way through. Go back, listen to
the last two episodes. We did a there you go,
you're holding three goggles? Yeah, of course beautiful. We did
an ACC overview where we talked through what our tears
look like. Last episode we cover the top of the conference,

(00:46):
the bottom of the conference, at least according to us.
This episode is the one actually that I'm most excited
about though, because this one is going to be what
we call the media middle, what I am calling, broadly speaking,
the wild card here. Yes, a bunch of wild cards
in the SACC conference. Man, I got nine of them.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
On my list.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
We go through all of them today. We're going to
give you the same level of detail we did in
the last episode. There is a lot to be said
about these nine teams today. I'm excited to share the
microphone with you again, my friend.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Welcome back, Thank you for having me. Have you watched
youth soccer before? I'm sure you have it.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Yes, it's a swarm of bees chasing a ball.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well, what better analogy is there for the perceived non
contenders but still pretty good teams of the acc Then
a bunch of teams in an unintelligible scrum kicking each
other's shins until the ball squirts out and somebody breaks
for the goal, hopefully the right goal in the case
of five year olds playing soccer. That's what this is.

(01:46):
I am extremely excited to see whose shins get kicked
in and cries, and who runs and scores a goal
where there's no goalie and feels great about themselves.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
It's great, it is terrific. Well, welcome back to you,
trusted verballer. We appreciate you stopping on by hit follow,
hit subscribe if you're new here, so that you don't
miss any of our episodes. Again. I will repeat this
now for like the umpteenth time, three episodes week Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday.
We've done it. That way for an eternity. We're going
to continue doing it that way all throughout the previous season,
the preseason, as we get through the regular season, and

(02:19):
the postseason as well, So a lot to come. This
is really just the start the tip of the iceberg
here as we get rolling in advance of the twenty
twenty five season. Of course, verbalers dot com v E
R B A L L E r s dot com.
That's where you can go if you want to further
sport what Dan and I do. That's our Patreon where
you get.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Out the best way you can support it, the best way. Absolutely,
keep the lights on.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Yeah, add free episodes, bonus content, get these episodes a
little bit early discord access. So I'm actually going to
be flipping over the Patreon tiers here. I may have
already flipped over those Patreon tiers by the time some
of you listen to this. Nice So we're starting to
get into season mode here. Across the board, we're gonna
have a big old game, We're working on other games.
A lot of stuff happening at verbowlers dot com. So

(03:02):
even if you don't want to pay for it, just
going out there sign up as a free member on occasion,
we throw you a few bones here and there.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Look around, make yourself a check it out?

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, check it out? All right? So you held that
the three fingers, let me talk through the nine fingers
on this wild card hand.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Okay, I'm ready.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
We got the Duke, Blue Devils, Virginia Tech Hokies, Florida
State Semineles, North Carolina Belichicks. We've got the Syracuse Orange
ENC State Wolfpack, BC Eagles, California Golden Bears, and last,
but certainly not least, the Virginia Commodores. Dan. All right, all.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Right, what do we got?

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Where do we want to start? M let's start. I
don't know, let's start NC State. I just, for some
reason that felt real to Meal. Okay, did I call
Virginia the Commodoores by the way, I believe I meant Cavaliers?

Speaker 2 (03:51):
No, No, hold on, Maybe you were thinking about the
Commonwealth cup or the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
It's been a day already. It's been a day. It's
been a day that's probably not going to bode well
with the Virginia people out there, But I'm going to
leave it in the show because this is a show
about honesty.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Now, can't wait?

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Where do you want to start?

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Still? NC State?

Speaker 1 (04:09):
NC State, Yes, new defense, new offense, Kurt Roeper's backs,
I guess not entirely new. He was on the staff,
he was coaching CJ. Bailey.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Yeah, internal got a backloaded schedule.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
When we went through our first episode here putting these
teams in tiers, you and I were a bit mixed
on where we stood on NC State. Where do you
stand on NC State? What are the things that jump
out to you? Why do you think they'll be good?
Why do you think they won't be good?

Speaker 2 (04:38):
I think they can win fifty to fifty games if
offensively it works out with the experience they have on offense,
at receiver, at quarterback. Obviously we'll see on the offensive line.
But if your starting point is promising quarterback who has
promising targets, I already like you. The problem to me
with NC State is what you just mentioned right that

(04:59):
the very involved with NC State with two coordinators who
I don't think I would be if they were coordinating Oregon.
I would not be thrilled with Oregon's chances to make
serious noise in the conference. I don't know how you
would feel if Kurt Roper and d J. Elliott were
coordinating one of your teams's side of the ball. But

(05:19):
it doesn't feel great to me. That said, NC State
schedules really tough. It's a pretty tough schedule, which to
me indicates two things. The best of NC State is
going to change the calculus of the ACC because they're
gonna be playing a bunch of really good teams. I
think they have what Notre Dame on the road they
have I think Miami, yes, NC State righte. NC State

(05:44):
has pit on the road, your number two team. They've
got Florida State. Who knows what that game is going
to mean. Obviously the rivalry game against North Carolina, whatever
they are, I have high hopes for Duke. That game
is on the road for NC State, so they have
the ability, if they're good or at least dangerous at
something prey, dramatically affect how this conference shapes out. And
I don't think it's necessarily fair or nice to only

(06:06):
categorize NC State as an effector of the better. But
that's still interesting to me. I am still interested in
what this offense looks like. There are still pieces on
this defense though, I'm just not super high on NC
State in this moment because of the number of changes
and because of what seems to be the trajectory of
this program these last couple of years.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah, And I was thinking about that when I was
going through with my research here, and I was thinking
back to the episode that we did before last season
with Corey Smith from Pack Pride, right, and we were
wondering a year ago if that if last season was
going to be the year for NC State. Now, I
didn't pan out for a multitude of reasons. Remember, they

(06:50):
brought in Grace McCall. He got heard of the two
concussions in like a six week period, ended.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Up a hiring unfortunate area.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
So that was a bad deal. I am leary about
Dave Doran bringing in two new veteran coordinators at this point.
He got rid of Robert and I on the offense,
I understand it. Tony Gibson left, he's a new head
coach at Marshall. It's just a lot to fix, you know.
And I'm always leary about those types of situations. Now,
Kurt Roper is a name that college football fans are

(07:20):
familiar with, but it's been eight years since he called
it offense was the quarterback coach for CJ. Bailey. I
think that's why he has been elevated to this position.
I like CJ. Bailey. I think the biggest job for
Kurt Roper, for Dave Doran, really for this program as
a whole, if they want to get better, is to
make sure that they don't stunt his development. Right, So
I think that's at least a building block for Dave

(07:42):
Doran moving forward. You mentioned the coordinator higher on the
other side of all, Dj Elliott. You might be surprised
to hear this, Dan, I'm ready. It sounds like he's
planning to run an aggressive, attacking, pressure based scheme that
sort of blends a three three five with the three four.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Okay, again, I have nothing against that.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
Once that Arara land up edg Rusher to really be
attacking and aggressive. You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
I do know exactly what you mean. Last year's pass
rush was very bad.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
It was bad.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
It was bad.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
So, like my standpoint is this the over under six
and a half wins. I think CJ. Bailey is really good.
I think they'd be wise to build around him. It
was an absolute dagger that they lost Casey Conceptsy On
my guy.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
But his year wasn't great.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
He wasn't great.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
He was kind of disappointing.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, his year wasn't great, but he's still an elite talent.
He goes to Texas, A and m It's gonna take
some combination of other guys. I guy Hollywood's Smothers, great name,
Justin Jolly, Noah Rodgers, Wesley Grin, Like, there are guys here,
but the one that I feel best about is probably CJ. Bailey.
I think what I'm most interested in is what the

(08:49):
defense looks like, honestly, and I joke about the pressure
based defense, the attacking aggressive, that whole meme.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
Right.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
They can be a lot of fun to watch, but
you need a secondary and NC State kind of took
it on the chin in the back seven like most
of their starters portled out. So it's a collection of transfers,
and you know, it's just I kind of like what
I said with Miami. If you're focused on getting pressure
up front, you need to have some a some depth

(09:17):
to rotate new guys in to keep people fresh, but
you also need to have the secondary. I'm not sure
they have either of them. So backloaded schedule, they got
to figure it out early. You think Dave Dorian can
get the seven or eight wins and hit that over
two new schemes, a schedule mounting pressure to take a
step forward. I'm I tend to give him benefit of
the doubt because I think he's a good coach. But

(09:39):
I'm just I'm a little bit fearful that maybe this
program has stalled out.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Can I be sort of mean about small school transfers, please?
NC State just doesn't seem like that program. I know
it's a new era of college football. This is me
from AFAR saying, given their location, given their history, given
the guys they've sent to the NFL Draft, that they're
in a place where they are bringing in transfers from Wyoming,

(10:06):
Utah State, North Texas, and Temple, it doesn't make me
feel incredible that this defense under a new coordinator as well,
is all of the sudden against a conference with a
bunch of good quarterbacks and a bunch of promising offenses,
is going to improve all that much. They were I
have it down here in the nineties in points per
drive allowed. When they gave up big runs. They gave

(10:27):
up huge runs. They were one of the worst teams
in America that when somebody would get a little bit
loose get through the line of scrimmage, that was kind
of it. And so again, the all of four of
those players coming in from those schools might be incredible
additions and improvements over where NC State was last year.
I just don't love that NC State is at that

(10:48):
point where it's either these guys all work out or
it's not going to be great again. On defense.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
Yeah, the new meme that I am workshopping for possible
inclusion in a Fantasy Things roster, regardless of whether or
not we do that show. Yeah, it's this tendency of
every preview to lean a little too hard on the
coach talking about how he likes his talent. Sure, they

(11:14):
never say they hate it. They always love it.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah you gotta say that.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
Yeah, of course I understand it. But when the previews
lean on that and just assume that we should take
the coach's word for it, that's when the BS meter
goes off for me, and I feel that way a
lot with these small school transfers. We've seen a lot
of them hit. We've also seen a lot of them
not hit. So just proceed with caution here, Okay.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
By the way, So there was the fight with ECU
and the Bowl game last year, right correct, with whom
do they open this season? ECU, Let's go baby. I
don't know what that means. They lost that game to ECU,
by the way, December twenty eighth.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
ECU should have a good offense.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
I don't have ECU thoughts at the front of my
brain right now, But schedule wise, there's not a lot
of odd like they're gonna need to win a bunch
of thirty five thirty twos and that's not a recipe
for confidence in this moment. So it's ECU, Virginia Wake
on the Road and Duke on the road. They could
start the season one and three, two and two right there. Yeah,

(12:20):
they have Virginia Tech and Notre Dame two out of
three weeks in the middle of that schedule at pitt
Georgia Tech. Oh, bye week at Miami, Florida State North
Carolina and the right rough schedule. Man, ugh, I just
with that, with that number of questions in that schedule,
seeing them go eight and four would be like an
incredible year.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
Yeah, I got I got six and six.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, I think six and six is more appropriate myself.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
Let's stay in the state in North Carolina. Let's go
to North Carolina Tar Heels please. Six and seven year ago,
they lost to James Madison, they lost to Duke, to
Pitt to Georgia Tech. Actually they lost four in a row.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
Then they lost Boston College andcy stayed con in the
bowl game. Three in a row to end the season.
So it was two spurts of losses for North Carolina.
They made big waves. They made the big story of
the offseason by going out and hiring Bill Belichick. Okay,
I can't remember at this point if we did an
emergency episode for it.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
We may have done a stream. I don't know if
it was a full episode.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah, I don't remember at this point. But even without
the added layer of Jordan Hudson, who.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
You know who I mean, Jordan Hudson, who's jan new
slot receiver?

Speaker 1 (13:30):
I'm talking this, Okay, even without Jordan Hudson and her
connection to the coach in the program and whatever oddities
that has brought about, this would easily be a top
three story headed back into the new season. Thank you, James.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
This is either going to be a spectacular success or
a very messy breakup.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
You don't think there's any chance. It's just kind of boring.
I think he's kind of boring. No, no, no, But like
you don't think they're like, well, they went eight and four,
they lost to the better teams, they beat some of
the teams right around their their area of the ACC And.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
No, I think no, I think that's likely this year.
I'm saying, bigger picture, bigger picture of the situation with
him taking that job. He's either going to go on
a tear and be great at it or it's going
to get real weird as he tries to leave one
of the other. Yeah. So I've got two burning questions
for you with respect to North Carolina.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Okay, and the first is here. I'll answer before you
even ask. I don't continue.

Speaker 1 (14:33):
Well, I think that's the right answer. My first question
is is North Carolina actually wildcard? Because I don't know. Yeah,
nobody seems to have a clue what this is going
to look like. And it doesn't matter whether you're talking
about the product on the field or like the nuts
and bolts behind the scenes on an administrative level. We
did that episode a few months back with Michael Felder,
which was almost unfair to him at the time, because

(14:55):
we were asking about specifics and what's it feel like
nobody has? Nobody has, and there are fifty one guys
who transferred out forty one that came in. I hope
the reballerhood can forgive me if I don't go into
my normal level of specificity here. But there is so
much turnover and so much different I have no idea

(15:17):
Dan how the hell to handicap this thing.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
Big picture, I think there's a lot working against him.
Schedule wise, it's a pretty incredible schedule.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
Schedule's fantastic, absolutely fantastic.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
So my concern would be a little bit more abstract
that like and this is much more about like Belichick specifically,
not what this roster does or doesn't have. But because
the roster, like many first year coaches, is thrown together
with transfers from a bunch of different schools. The challenge
for any coach put in this position, let alone one
who hasn't coached in college, basically is can he bring

(15:49):
everybody together? Can he keep everybody excited and energized and
galvanized to go beat whoever they have on their schedule
this week? How is he at navigating you know, a
kid wants to transfer three weeks in, is he going
to like lower himself to like beg him to stay
right in that instance? I doubt it. But what are

(16:13):
his like emotional abilities in terms of keeping this program together,
you know in good times and bad? What is what
is he like game planning? You know, for school's weekend
and week out. He's game planning against much much better
football teams. But it was with grown men, with doing
their jobs, with Tom freakin' Brady right right exactly, and

(16:35):
so you can see how it can go wrong. It's
hard for me to imagine that it's going to go
right when the talent level isn't near the top of
the conference it appears in this moment. Yeah, So my
answer is, I'm very curious to see what happens. I'm
very curious to see who does or doesn't develop under
Bill Belichick and the many Belichicks involved in this program.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
At least three I'm of three Belichicks involved in this project.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
And I don't know it's more curiosity than strong feelings
about this North Carolina team because we don't have a
great concept of what kinds of systems. He was famous
like for fully changing the system and game plan every
week in the NFL. You're not gonna be able to
do that in college with the limited amount of practice
time and the limited malleyability of random college linebackers. So

(17:27):
curious have no concept. We'll need to see a few
weeks first before I can feel anything about North Carolina football.
But yes, it'd be unfair because of his reputation and
his past to put them anywhere else butt the middle.
We'll see how talent acquisition goes, and that won't affect
things from this point moving forward this season. But man,

(17:50):
it's it's gonna be wild. It is.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
And the second burning question actually is one that we
may get something of an answer to. We don't know
it now. We can make this s ssumption now, but
three quarters the way through the season, I think we'll
have a better sense for the raw power of the
coaching genius of Bill Belichick, arguably the greatest coach of

(18:14):
all time at the NFL. Lew R asn't coached in college.
I think it's fair to assume that he'll be able
to put a defense together. I can talk about that
in the second I.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
Mean, you just need dudes, though, that's the problem, and
they lost their better dudes on ddu.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
You need dudes. If he is the coaching genius that
he has been sold to us as, I think we
should see some of that on display. Doesn't mean they're
going nine to three, but we should see even with
a ton new on defense, they still find a way
to put together a pretty good unit out there. Just
my opinion.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
Well, look, I mean, the easiest thing you can do
is look at quarterbacks that they will face, especially in
the ACC. So it's Clemson, cal So, Kate Klubnick and
I guess Devin Brown, Chandler Morris at Virginia, Steve Angeli
at Syracuse, who knows at Stanford, who knows at Wake?
I mean, Robbie Ashford? Good one in Darien Mensa, probably

(19:11):
pretty good or good in CJ. Bailey. There's exactly one
quarterback on this schedule. Who is it? TCU? Josh Hoover?
Is that? Who's in TCU?

Speaker 1 (19:20):
And that's the first week of the season.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
And that's first week of the season. But it's at home,
Like the quarterbacks face are not There's not a row
of killers here.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
And listen, they don't play in Miami, they don't play SMU,
they don't play Louisville. They don't play Georgia Tech, they
don't play Florida State, they don't play Pittah So to
your point, the schedule is great. I again, I would
be surprised if if they gave up as many big
plays as they did a year ago. I think we'll
see improvement on defense. I think that's his calling card,
especially through the air. Yeah, despite the fact that they

(19:50):
actually had a pretty good pass rush last year, they
gave up so many big plays. A lot new here,
but it looks to me like the nucleus of the
defense in terms of experiences, is definitely in the back seven.
That would be nice. I think Belichick can work with that.
So I'm optimistic on that side of the ball. I'm
intrigued by offense because they're bringing in starters from other teams.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yeah Nebraska.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
Yeah, the line's a really good example. If you factor
in the transfers, it's actually a pretty experienced group. They
just haven't played together at all. Right, then you've got
a guy Goo Lopez, the quarterback from South Alabama, figures
to be the starter. He's much more of a duel
threat guy than we've seen recently at North Carolina. I
think the offense has to take a bit of a
step back, especially sincin Mari and Hampton went to the NFL.

(20:30):
But I do think there's plenty of optimism there around GEO.
A lot of people want to GEO. Sure, we're basically
talking about something we have no business talking about, because
nobody does. It's all assumption, it's all a Lincoln a nod.
And I think just this prevailing spirit of a prevailing
idea of Bill Belichick coaching something without actually knowing what

(20:51):
he's coaching.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
Yet that quarterback job is still open, by the way, right, and.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
It's still open. I think it's going to be GEO.
But Max is still there. Yeah, yep, so we'll see
listen again. I wish I could be more specific. I
wish I had a hotter take. I wish I had
any take.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
No, I hear you don't.

Speaker 1 (21:09):
I don't know what to do with this.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
I mean, Steve Belichick, that's the defensive coordinator, right, great hair, Well,
we can talk about that long hair. They I will
want to say they stop big plays Washington last year,
and they did a pretty good job. And I don't
have the list of quarterbacks in front of me. I
feel like they did a pretty good job against the past,
against the past, excuse me, the past in the past. Yeah,

(21:33):
So I don't know, we'll see because that was another
sort of rebuild very quickly at Washington last year with
Jed Fish. But uh, that schedules great. They should be good.
They should be bowling this year.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
Over under is seven and a half. Then, for what
it's worth to you, hmmm. So look, let me move
on to Doke. Let's stay in the great state of
North Carolina. Duke's over under is six and a half
this year. They went nine and four last year. Manidez
a first year. This is where I think the context
is really important, because remember Mike Elko left before last season,

(22:08):
Riley Leonard left before last season. They took on heavy
losses across the board. And I remember doing this preview.
I think I look back at my notes here when
I was jotting this stuff down, I think I had
them pegged for like a rebuilding year last season. I
had them under five and a half. I was very

(22:29):
pessimistic on Duke.

Speaker 2 (22:30):
And you went to a Duke game and I went
to a Duke game. Yeah, we were there at the
portable stadium out at Northwestern. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:37):
So that said, it's kind of like an all time
zag for Duke to win nine games in a coach's
first season and now for them to randomly drop a
big old bag of cash to bring in one of
the top transfer quarterbacks of this cycle.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Yeah. And there by the way, augusta wind away from
beating a team augusta wind away from the championship in
SMU multip overtimes.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
Yeah, you and I had a conversation and I referenced
this on one of our previous two episodes when we
were putting all this together. We had a moment of
pause when we were on the phone chatting this through,
and we came to the conclusion at the same time that, Wow,
Duke might be like the most reliable team in this
whole wild card tire. That's not to say they're going

(23:22):
nine to three, but in terms of what they have
and what we think we can count on, what we
think we know we're gonna get, Duke feels pretty solid
and that's really uncommon ground for the Duke Blue Devils.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
Yeah, it's I think the word I was going to
use was like dependable or just like most drama free.
It seems because as many players is like Clemson returns,
there's a men's pressure on Clemson to win this conference
this year. With what they're returning, there's zero pressure on Duke.
There's basically no pressure on Duke. Ever, though they are

(23:54):
spending more so with that kind of spending, you want
to see a return on that business mind over here,
Dan Rubinston, that's what people like when they spend money.
They like goods and services for their money. No, of course,
So yeah, I just think there's basically no pressure on
Duke beyond like Darien Mensa should give Duke boosters what
they paid for and be a good quarterback for Duke.

(24:17):
But the defense should be good. The offensive line was
pretty horrendous last year, opening up lanes for the running game.
The running game in general was terrible. They should be better.
There's a lot of experience coming back. I don't know
what that means. They could just merely be below average,
but if your starting point once again is quality defense,
especially upfront, and quality quarterback. And the schedule to me
is not maybe I'm misremembering, but it doesn't seem crazy brutal.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
It's not crazy brutal, but it's harder than it was
a year ago. Sure, it's harder than it was a
year ago. And even though Duke won nine games last year,
say they were blowing teams out. They beat one team
with a winning record, which was Yukon. They won six
to one score games. There's a world in which this
year's schedule features ten bowl teams.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
Yeah, the non conference portion is definitely tough. This has
the hallmark to me.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
Of a team that's better but as a worst record
as a result of the schedule.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
Okay, seven and five with a bowl win.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
Something like that. But listen again, you got to be
thrilled with what they did in year one. It was
like Havoc City down there in Durham. Forty three sacks,
one hundred and sixteen tackles for loss. It should be
no surprise to learn that Many Diaz also runs an
aggressive attacking defense Dan.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Of course, but like unpredictable and fun de Penn State,
people like Many Diaz more than they like Tom Allen.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
Ah kidding me, Okay, just making sure I don't know,
don't even tease me with that. Yeah, seven starters back
this year with reinforcements coming via the portal. I think
the defense is in a good situation, And look, Dari Metz,
I think is an upgrade over Malik Murphy. For as
much as I like Malik Murphy before he came to Duke,
I think Mans is an upgrade. I think he makes

(25:55):
the more explosive. I don't know who's going to step
up out wide. I don't know who he's throwing two.
Is it Andre Anthony? Is he going to be the
guy who steps up from Oklahoma?

Speaker 2 (26:05):
I think he's fine if he's healthy.

Speaker 1 (26:07):
Yeah, you know, is the defense able to lead the
way enough while the offense figures out who its playmakers
are in addition to Man So, you know, I like
Chuck quiz Moore, I like their true freshman Nate Sheppard.
I think they have pieces here. But it's just I
think it's going to be a little bit of a
work in progress on offense, and we're just gonna have
to see how the defense holds up against what amounts

(26:27):
to I think a better schedule.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
So it's a more difficult schedule, and what they're able
to do last year was go nine and four. Once
again nine and four.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
With basically no offense.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
There's a sub hundred national offense, So if again they're
merely average or a little bit below average, and the
defense is right around where it was last year because
they do return, as you mentioned, key pieces. I don't know,
I think they're pretty good. I think they have a
really good shot at winning a bunch of games. I
don't know what are the home road splits. Do they

(26:58):
have tough road stuff? It's at Tulane at Syracuse, which
is going to be tricky. At Cal, it's across the country.
So at Syracuse at Cal, by the way, that's a
nice little one to two travel monster. They get Georgia
Tech at home after a bye, they get Clemson it's
a mutual bye, and then finished with Yukon Virginia North
Carolina Wake. That's pretty good.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
Still harder than last year, harder than last year, but
not terrible all things considered, not terrible, by the way.
The Week two game against Illinois huge. It's a bigger
game than I think a lot of people realize. That's
a big game for you.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
I mean, Illinois is gonna be what top fifteen.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
Ish, That's a big game. Dan, don't sleep on that game.
I'm gonna put that one on our run the board game.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
You know what that is? Duke Illinois. It's the team
that got John Shire versus the team that is still
heartbroken about not getting John.

Speaker 1 (27:49):
Shire the Shire Bowl.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
Yeah, and Shire's not only still a Duke person, he's
the coach the Duke basketball team.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
He's the coach of the Duke team. Now. Yeah, he's incredible.
All right, all right. Next, let's talk Virginia Tech. Okay,
I think Virginia Tech's flying under the radar this year.

Speaker 2 (28:09):
Okay, break it down for me.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
I think they're flying under the raidar. I think they
need to be healthy or stay healthy. I think they
need to be more consistent.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
A lot of football teams should stay healthy.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
I think the schedule is backloaded into November. This is
truly a team. We may not know who they are
until December. Dan, you know, Okay, good, you know I
love that saying.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
We won't really know who they are until December. Tyle
Deebrandt swing it in with the insight bombs.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
This was a six and seventeen. A year ago, they
lost syracusan overtime Miami on a controversial like I don't know,
overturned hill Mary thing.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
Nobody could see anything, but a ruling was made regardless yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:46):
They lost to Clemson, a couple others. Five of their
six losses were by one score, so they were they
were in it, and frustratingly so, I think amid all
the talk in the ACC about Clemson being back, Carson
Beck going to Miami, Bill Belichick going to North Carolina,

(29:06):
not a lot of people talking about Tech this year.
Last year, I think it was a little bit underwhelming.
I think that's putting it mildly. But when you've got
close losses like that, when you've got a guy like
Kyen Drones who clearly has a lot of talent but
was beat up, contact again is important. It wasn't a
horrible team, but they were inconsistent and I think they
were extenuating circumstances. So what are they at now? Brent

(29:29):
Price got two new coordinators, two new coordinators with two
new schemes try and fix the glitch, and the big
question for me is can they do it? Can they
do it? The biggest source of inconsistency on this team
last year was the offense. There were three and out
one of every three possessions. By the way, that's a
lot FYI. It didn't help that Drones was banged up

(29:51):
we saw a little Colin Schlee, some Pop Watson, great name.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
M hm.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
Now this year we've got Philip Montgomery, who's a new
offensive coordinator, so I think he's pieces to work with Dan.
I think Drones is going to be healthy. I really
like they got Terry and Stewart, the running back from
Bowling Green. That dude's a bowling ball with eyes. Man.
I like him, and I like Aiden Green out wide.
I think he could grow into a true wide receiver one.

(30:16):
We saw him pop in the bowl game a little bit.
I'm interested to see if they steer more into their
running game. I'm not sure what their line is going
to look like, but that to me is what I'm
watching from an offensive standpoint. I like some of the
transfers they brought in. It's going to be an entirely
new lineup front. So that's probably the missing piece right

(30:38):
now as we do this in mid July. Ultimately, the
key is can they find a way to get Kiren
Drones to be a little bit more consistent who everybody
knows he loves at this point, he just needed to
be more reliable, but was pretty inconsistent last year. Consistent, yeah,
I mean he's got a big arm. He really does.
They just need to find a way to create more

(30:58):
of a vertical threat with him on the field. It
wasn't full on pickleball last year, Dan, But also was
it not pickleball?

Speaker 2 (31:06):
Right? And by that, for our new listeners, what is pickleball?

Speaker 1 (31:09):
Pickleball is when everything is within five to let's say
seven yards of the line of scrimmage.

Speaker 2 (31:13):
Building the whole plane out of dink and dunk.

Speaker 1 (31:15):
Yeah, And there was a lot behind the line of
scrimmage last year, so they got to hopefully get past
that and hopefully build more of a vertical threat. Another
point of intrigue for me is the new defense coordinator.
Sam Sefkis Okay, he is thirty three. He's been a
DC at Wofford. He coached in the NFL for the
Vikings and the Cardinals as a linebacker coach. You might

(31:38):
be surprised to learn that he wants to run more
of an aggressive, attacking defense.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
Dan, Yeah, always surprising. You might also be surprised to
learn that it's another coordinator who tie is at least
ten years older.

Speaker 1 (31:50):
Than Thank you, Dan, appreciate that not talking about this.
I want to give a shout out to the key
play a great website that yeah, did a full breakdown
of what the sam Sefkiss defensive scheme might look like
from a three man front, which he likes to maybe
use in three high safeties kind of the way that

(32:11):
Ohio State did with Caleb Downs. Shout out to those
guys for giving us a coup as to what expect.
I don't know what to make of this, Okay, I
really don't. I think the schedule is going to be
in November. To remember, they opened the year against South Carolina,
which is a you know, obviously a great game. I
generally like Virginia Tech. I like them to hit that

(32:32):
over six and a half, even though there's a lot new.
I think you could probably make the case that this
is Brent Price's best team since he got to Blacksburg,
and there's a good chance to go five and one
to start. And if that's the case, they just got
to pick up two the rest of the way to
hit that over. I need the ceilings eight and four,
but I feel good about them going over six and
a half.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
Okay, So if you are looking at Virginia Tech as
a team with questions, but you like the talent, on
both sides of the ball, two new coordinators. I guess
my big question is when you look at Virginia Tech's
twenty twenty four, you're looking at a team who, again
another team that is sort of a reverse duke, which,
by the way, don't do a reverse duke before you stretch. No,

(33:14):
it's just it's for the best. They lost every game,
they lost pretty much by like three points in the
last two minutes. Ye, So what does this team look
like in the fourth quarter because of the winnable games
against take your pick, Rutgers or Miami or Vanderbilt or
Duke or anything like. This is not a team who
was winning any of these fifty to fifty games. So

(33:37):
I don't know what that says about Brent Pry. I
don't know what that says about Kyroen drones late in games,
or how the offense was called last year, or how
you know what kind of fitness and stamina this team
had in the fourth quarter? How do you finish Virginia Tech,
because again you're four game. Men, it's away from being
like nine to three, ten and two. Yeah, I mean,
not to give the game away too much. As you know,

(33:59):
the Big twelve is coming up next. We've talked about that.

Speaker 1 (34:02):
I was doing a little bit of research earlier today
on Scott Saderfield, and it's not exactly the same situation, granted,
but there's enough there of Cincinnati feeling like they were
close in spots but then petering out, and you have
to ask is it a culture thing? Is it a

(34:23):
discipline thing? And furthermore, is it the kind of thing
that you could fix in an offseason?

Speaker 2 (34:27):
Right?

Speaker 1 (34:28):
And I don't know the answer to that. The answer
is different for everybody. I like Brent Pryor as a coach.
I think he is very on brand for BLA Blacksburg, Virginia.
I want to like this team more than I do,
and I already like them more than I expected. Right,
that makes sense?

Speaker 2 (34:45):
Yeah? I mean Brent probably had them in a position.
They were an eight and four team that went six
and six last year. They didn't do anything horrifically bad.
They had an average offense and a pretty good defense,
and they lost a bunch of tiny game games late,
and so I generally put that on Brent pry.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
Florida State's over under is six and a half this year. Dan, Okay,
last year they almost made it to two and a
half a two to ten season. They lost to Georgia
Tech over in Ireland to open the year, then they
went on to lose nine more games. They only beat
cal which they did by five points at home, and
Charleston Southern. So yeah, a bit of a black eye,

(35:30):
especially especially a year after they went thirteen and one
and won the ACC. I think it goes without saying
you do not need a PhD in college football to
know that Mike Norvell was on the hot seat after that.
And so that's why we saw some big, major changes
this offseason. Got two new coordinators here as well, Gus
Melzan Tony White, got a good sized transfer class. To

(35:51):
Norvelle's credit, he knew he needed to make some wholesale changes,
if only for appearances, and it seems like there's a
lot of optimism. Fill in July, but it seems like
there's a lot of optimism that the pieces that he
has assembled are the right pieces, and they feel like
they're boys to take a big step forward. They can't
get any worse. Okay, they can't take a step backwards.

(36:13):
He'd be fired by week three if that were the case. Right,
where are you aut on Florida State.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
I think they have the potential to be And I
don't say this because of what Tommy c Tom Castellanos.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
Well, okay, Tommy Castellanosause, Okay, it was Thomas Castellanos. Then
somebody updated the database out there, uh huh, and now
every site has Tommy Castellanos.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
I'm good with it.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
Call yourself whatever you want. I don't care. We've dealt
with this before in college football. We've talked often about
the infamous Monte Monty Monte ball transition that was a
journey for all of us.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
I agree.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
I am just gonna completely zag as I said two
episodes ago, I'm calling him big Tom Callahan.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Can go get him. Tom Here's what I kind of
love about the move to Tommy. If I may derail
this Florida State preview just for a moment, I don't
have the data to support this.

Speaker 1 (37:13):
These are always the best takes.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
Is there a better folk hero college football first name
than Tommy Tommy Vardell Well, because you get touchdown Tommy right,
Tommy Armstrong? Who am I missing? Tommy DeVito, Tommy, Tommy Collitz. Yeah,
there is a lot of I mean, who am I? So? Yeah,
I'm seeing on ESPN right now, Tommy Castellanos.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
They changed it. I don't know when they changed it.
I'm gonna have to use the wayback machine to find
out exactly when this database got updated.

Speaker 2 (37:44):
I don't know, man. I think there's you know, we've
had some Joey's, Galloway Harrington's, the like, Billy's. Tommy's pretty
up there in terms of like. I think going from
Thomas to Tommy made Florida State eight at least one
and a half games better. Fair enough. They have the
opportunity Florida State this season when you look at their schedule,

(38:07):
when you look at the hopes and desires and passions.
By the way, Hope's Desires and Passions was part of
our Skinemax show last season, they have the ability to
be weird little stinkers this year, Florida State, they really
do weird litt Florida State does absolutely running an annoying
offense bringing in random N You don't have a full
concept of what the defensive transfers are going to be.

(38:28):
If they're well coached with new coordinators, they could be
weird little stinkers at seven and five.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
It goes without saying that this is a high stakes
situation for Floridae and Florida.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
I don't know ho if seven and five keeps Mike
Norvell around Tallahassee, but weird little stinkers.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
I think he's got to get to eight. Probably. I
think he's got to go eight and four. And this
is not a schedule doing him any favors. They open
the season with Alabama, They've got Miami, they got pit
They're at Clempson, they're at Florida. All those teams are
on the schedule. It's going to be tough to hit
that eight win total, if in fact that is a threshold. Again,
I just I'll come back to what I said at
the top when I was talking about NC State. I

(39:08):
don't know if this is a situation where you can
just snap your fingers and fix everything that led to
a two and ten season. You know, you go out,
you hire Gus Malson. It's a big deal, it's a
big name. This offense was one hundred and fifteenth in
the country per the s people outs last season, so
they got to fix that. They went out, they got
an offensive guy, I get.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
It, and they hired dear friend of the solid verbal
herb hand to run the office offensive line. We like
Tony White like there's a lot here.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
I will say this. I do like the pairing of
Big Tom Callahan and Gus Malson.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
I knew you would.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
Yeah, he's ten stories high if he's a foot yeah,
Gus recruited him out of high school. He started his
career with Gus ran for one thousand yards two years ago.
They went hard at offensive line in the portals. So
provided somebody can step up at what at running back
excuse me, could be a nice little rushing attack. They
will play some teams that can bottle up the run.
I'm curious to see what howpons then, because Big Tom

(40:02):
will tell you he's a playmaker. I love that part
of his game. Yeah, I'm not sure I want to
lean on him to drop back and throw at thirty
times for playing in death Valley, right, So that part
of it is a little bit uncertain to me. I
do wonder about the rebuilt line, if it can stay healthy,
if the offense skews a little bit more towards the run,
or whatever. We'll find all that out in time. Deuce

(40:24):
Robinson score White, we're two really big transfers that Florida
State added to help bolster the wide receiver room. How
often they use them and what capacity they use them
remains to be seen to be. But I don't hate
that pairing with mals On, and I like the Tony
White move too. We really like Tony White.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
We really like Tony White.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
May surprise you to hear that he likes more of
an aggressive approach on defense, I'd say, of course, but
they've got a solid grouping there. I'm not sure there
are any gravitational players, not anybody who's single handedly going to
blow up a game plan. But it's also not an
easy defense to install.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
No Derwin James on this two D.

Speaker 1 (41:02):
No, and so it's like the combination of maybe not
having the star power with also not installing a particularly
easy defense to pick up in you know, the fall.
Alabama minus twelve and a half Week one feels like
a decent bet to me. But I don't want to
sell Florida Stay short. I just think it's not a
new quarterback. I know, it's just it's it's it's a

(41:25):
lot to ask in week one going up against the
team like in Alabama.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
I agree, what's.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
Florida Stay going to do? This year. What's their record
in your view?

Speaker 2 (41:34):
I would have them at seven and five. I'm not
fully sold on Castellano smells On at this stage of
each of their careers. I know there's a lot of
conversation around. He's like a Nick Marshall, like you said
on our Big Picture thing, Like he's a Malson quarterback,
Like I don't know Malson quarterbacks that have like actually
had a lot of success, a really good throwing the ball.

(41:55):
Nick Marshall is underrated as a thrower. I don't know.
I'd like to see it before fully believing it. In July.
I think there's just too many new pieces. I'm in
that seven and five weird little stinker zone.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
Speaking of weird little stinkers, let's talk about Syracuse Orange.
Okay ten and three.

Speaker 2 (42:12):
Last year, Dan ten and three. We believe I said it.

Speaker 1 (42:17):
During the one of our G five episodes. I'll say
it again here. Syracuse is the ink plot test of
the ACC because I think how you interpret this team,
how you interpret this roster, the schedule, the culture says
a lot more about you beloved Forballer than it does
about Syracuse. There is a flaw here, though.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
I kind of have a problem with your hair. It's
bothering me.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
They lose a ton, a ton. They are worse at
every offensive position. They lose seven of their top ten tacklers.
The schedule is a lot harder. You can call it
a rebuilding year, a transition year, a year one point five,
whatever nomenclature you are comfortable with, Dan, this is not
as good a team as it was a year ago,

(43:01):
full stop. That doesn't mean they won't get back to
Bowl eligibility, that doesn't mean they won't hit their over
a five and a half. But it's worth noting amid
all of the hype and all the steam around the
for animal who we love on this show, of course,
and we will continue to love. But I'm a little
bit lary here.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
Are you suggesting that the ACC is indeed ready for
Steve Angeli?

Speaker 1 (43:26):
Oh, I don't think anybody's ready for ANGELI?

Speaker 2 (43:28):
Okay for this jelly Yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:31):
We got to get that sound cute out for this year. Yes,
of course it is going to be Steven. I think
it's going to be Steve angel I think it has
to be.

Speaker 2 (43:37):
Not Ricky Collins. Yeah, I would. You don't bring in
a quarterback post spring ball. If you feel a potential
starting quarterback, a high profile potential starting quarterback, if you
feel good about your room, I agree.

Speaker 1 (43:50):
I think it's going to be Angelly. I think the compy.
He's not as good as McCord, but he's the same
type of quarterback as a Kyle McCord. It's similar enough
in that their traditional pocket guys. You're not gonna really
put him on the run. He can move, but I
think the best of him is as a pocket passer.
He's shown poise for Notre Dame. He seems to be

(44:12):
a great leader the.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
Players around right in in that big game last year
against Penn State, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
He was unfazed by that. The players around him definitely
responded to him being on the field, and that was
true most of the time when he was on the
field for Notre Dame.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
You should also know just file this away. If at
any point CJ. Carr struggles in the first month of
the season, Tye is going to reach out and through
back channels try and find Steve Angelly's uncle or something.
He is going to pull his hair out, wondering why
Notre Dame lets Steve Angelly go. Perhaps nothing will happen

(44:44):
perhaps CDJ. Carr will be excellent from the jump, but
that's what Ty will do because he knows Steve Angeli.
It's pretty good.

Speaker 1 (44:49):
Steve Angel's all right. I mean, I don't think Steve Angeli,
if he had his way about things, would have ever
left Notre Dame. But I also understand that dude wants
to play.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
Did he'd not lead them to a sun Bowl Crown continue.

Speaker 1 (45:05):
The schedule is murder for Syracuse.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
It's very tough.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
I mean, it looks to me like they're gonna get
pushed around trying to stop the run. So if you're
a Syracuse fan, I'd say prepare to live this year
because you're gonna get to watch games against Tennessee, Clemson, SMU,
Georgia Tech, Miami, and Notre Dame. Also Duke in North
Carolina both on this thing. Pretty good chance they're dogs
in all seven of those games that I listed. I

(45:30):
don't think the fr animals going on and seven against him.
I think he will find a way to win a couple,
but it's a much harder schedule than it was a
year ago. I like fran Brown, I really do. He
brings serious good vibes to that program. But it was
a really nice schedule last season, and it wasn't surprising

(45:50):
not to me, not to you, that year one was successful.
I think we were pretty high on the CUS. But
a ten to three year in year one is not
something that they're gonna be able to replicate. You can
build on that, right, but I don't think they're going
to be able to replicate it. I've got them going
like seven and five.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
No, this was a top fifteen offense in the country
last year. In year one, offense is gonna take a
step back. Defense wasn't even that good last year. So
I guess the defense with a bunch of new transfers,
especially up front right coming in actually not a bunch,
but new starters sure are, is just going to take
time against the schedule. That said, our dear dear friend

(46:26):
Fran Brown, to whom we've never spoken, No would argue
that those teams have to play Syracuse, that this is
a team that gets up, is a team that gets,
you know, playing hard. It's just too many new faces
on both sides. They lose their number one receiver or
their returning leading receiver. He transferred Trevor Payne and went
to Penn State correct, yep, and so yeah, I think
it's going to be an adjustment year. I think if

(46:48):
they make a Bowl this season, that's a pretty successful
run through twenty twenty five. But they just got dealt.
It appears a pretty tough hand schedule wise, and hopefully
look that the momentum is there. They've been recruiting really well.
I like everything about this program except for the week
after week after week nature of what lays ahead.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
We got three teams left, Dan, all right, who do
we have?

Speaker 2 (47:12):
Next? Up?

Speaker 1 (47:13):
Is Boston College?

Speaker 2 (47:14):
Okay?

Speaker 1 (47:15):
Interesting little side note here to go full kimono. I
started my research in the a SEC with Boston College,
not just out of alphabetic order or anything, but because
I was genuinely interested in BC. They're over unders five
and a half last year seven and six. I think
year one was pretty good for bill Obrian.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
I agree with that, of course, I do. Yes.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
I think a seven and six season with a couple
close losses and accuding to what Missoo Miszoo twenties who
was winnable twenty seven to twenty one? They lost at Missoo.
They also lost a Virginia Virginia Tech Louisville at SMU Yeah,
Nebraska and the Pinch Stripe Bowl and that Mud Bowl
that they played. In general, I think it was a
pretty good campaign. So I think in that sense, there's

(48:02):
a healthy amount of heat on Boston College, if we
want to revert back to the theme we've been going
with here. In general, I think there's a sense that
Bill o brien knows what he's doing right, knows how
to get the most out of a roster. As we know,
if you're a mid tier ACC team, the roster is
always kind of in flux. There's always an open question somewhere,
and that's definitely true for Boston College this year. But

(48:23):
they didn't get creamed too badly in the transfer portal. Actually,
I think the combination of what they're bringing in with
what they're bringing back really makes for a compelling storyline.
So I'm kind of in on Boston. I have a
lot more to say in Boston College, but I'll stop here.
I'll pause here and give you a chance to reflect
on what I just said.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
Do you know who their running backs coaches? Savon Huggins.
If you want to feel oh, I think New Jersey
running back legend.

Speaker 1 (48:50):
Ah. How old are we? How old are you?

Speaker 2 (48:53):
Yeah, it's true.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
Continues all right, Tommy Castelano's I e big Tom Callahan,
he's gone and went to Florida State, doesn't matter. He
kind of had a falling out with Bob anyway, Yeah,
and Grayson James took over. He was perfectly fine. Offseason.
They went out and they got Dylan Laannergan Lanergan Loenergan Wanergon.

Speaker 2 (49:14):
I think it's Loaneran from Alabama.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
Yeah, Penn staters probably recognized that name, even if I
can't say it, because his dad also a noted Dan
was the backup for Todd Blacklitch back in the day
in the early eighties. So Dylan four star prospect class
twenty three seems to me like it's his job to lose.
But he's red shirt sophomore. He's got eight career passing
attempts at the college level, so you know, your mileage

(49:39):
may vary here on how long it takes for him
to click. The skilled talent around him, I think is intriguing.
It's the point in the show where I have to
mention that Boston College has a running back named Turbo Richard.
Of course, they don't call you Turbo unless you run
like a blazing forty. He was hurt for five games
last season. When he was healthy, he showed can be

(50:00):
really explosive. Likewise, they've got Jordan McDonald. He was close
to seven yards carry in theory. This is what I'm saying.
The rushing attack could be fun. Okay, it could be fun,
and your dream of there being a James Bond connection
does still live. We need Gray so alive. We need
Grayson James to play and Lewis Bond to be out wide,
but the James Bond connection could be there. They got

(50:23):
some options out wide as well. I like the back
seven of the defense. I think they'll be slid. Two
linebackers are back as well as an entire defensive backfield.
So this this is a team that's got enough back
I think to be dangerous. The wet blanket here is
the offensive line is going to take a step back.
They lose a lot, and on the defensive side they
lose a guy like Donovan as Araku.

Speaker 2 (50:44):
Yeah, very disruptive. The dry blanket, though, is Boston College
always randomly has three first round offensive line always always,
so shout out Anthony Costanzo. Is that the name I'm
looking for? CoA Stan So yeah, okay, continue schedule is murder. Yeah,

(51:04):
there's a stretch to that's real trick. It's sort of
like mid October to late November.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
Listen, the only winner in this conversation is the Boston
College season ticket holder. Who's going to get to see Clemson,
Notre Dame, and SMU all play at Alumni Stadium.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
Amazing.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
We have seen those teams losing Chestnut Hill.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
By the way, Notre Dame is done ducking Boston College.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
They're done. They're playing situationally, Clemson is at Boston College
before hosting SMUs, maybe a little bit. SMU goes to
BC a week after hosting Miami on homecomings, maybe a
little bit of little let down. Boston College is going
to be a home dog against all three of those
teams I mentioned. The question is can they pull an

(51:45):
upset over one of them?

Speaker 2 (51:47):
Are they your weird little stinker tie there's weird little
stinker potential? Okay, I like it, there is.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
If they pull one of those upset, changed it changes
the conversation in the conference, maybe with respect the college
football playoffs. So even outside of those teams, those are
just the headliners. There just aren't any breaks on this
thing outside of maybe the last three weeks of September.
So it's a tough schedule. But I like Bill O'Brien,
so I've got BC down for like six and six.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
Yeah, I think they can compete for a ball. Absolutely,
six and six sounds about right. California before we go
on to cal if you're going for a run right now.
If you're washing your dishes right now, if you're cleaning
your house right now, good for you doing those unseen
little things to improve your day. Keep running hard, finish

(52:38):
those dishes up. You're gonna get through them quicker than
you think. And thank you for picking up your house.
Even if nobody is saying thank you, you are doing it. Okay,
now killing on to cal killing.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
It California, the state of your birth. I believe you
were born in California.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
Right, I was born in California, nowhere near Berkeley, but
born in California.

Speaker 1 (52:58):
This is a six and seventeen. A year ago, they
got a five and a half over under. They did
beat Auburn in week two, YEP, lost at Florida State,
should have beaten Miami at home, lost at pitt NC State,
ques at SMU UNLV in the bowl game. There were
seven losses. I think I counted them all out. It
was a full range of emotions last season. If you

(53:20):
were a Cal football fan because he had the social
media memes calgorithm, then you had the frustration of losing
a bunch of close games. So with that now in
the rearview mirror, Brian Harson made some changes. Or excuse me,
Brian Harson was part of the changes that Justin Wilcox made.
Do we feel any better about Cal despite the fact

(53:43):
that there are mass changes and on top of it,
the ultimate dagger was losing Jade Nott and the transfer
portal in the spring.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
It was both running backs, right, they had a really
good duo. I don't feel great about Cal. I don't
feel all that great about Cal. I would I think?
I feel I like that they were It seems much
more active in the portal than normal. They're active as
a program, hiring new coaches, hiring a new GM like.

(54:12):
Obviously this is looked at as a season that needs
to be dramatically better, that they need to finish games,
that they can't just be like a fun program online,
that they need to win these close games. So I
don't feel great about Cal because the obvious nature of
who is leading them to these wins is still pretty

(54:34):
up in the air to me. And with the defense
took a nice step forward last year. The offense was
okay at times, but they couldn't really put it together
for four quarters consistently. So I just it's hard to
see how this program, without a couple of pretty incredible
recruiting end portal classes can get to like an eight
to nine win level. It just hasn't been at that

(54:56):
level ever under Justin Wilcox, with any sort of consistency.
So I don't see it. Do you see anything here?

Speaker 1 (55:05):
I think the best way to pick this season of
Cal football is that meme of the dog drinking coffee
in the burning room with this this.

Speaker 2 (55:14):
Is everything's fine. Yeah, this is fine because we've.

Speaker 1 (55:17):
Got a philosophical shift on offense. Schedule's fine, schedule's okay,
but we've got the shift on offense. We've got a
head coach who was very much on the hot seat.
It has to be feeling the pressure. You get a
roster that got crushed by the portal and was sort
of rebuilt on the fly. We've got a quarterback competition,
an open question of how to fix a line that
gave up fifty facts last season. Yeah, there's a lot

(55:41):
working against them. But the schedule is fine. You know,
despite all of that, the over unders five and a half,
which isn't horrible. You can do worse than that. There's
no Clemson, no Miami, no Florida State. Duke and North
Carolina and SMU all off to travel out west. Great
this is This looks to me like the kind of
season that either gets just to well Cox a contract
extension or it gets him fired by week eight. I

(56:04):
don't think there's any in between.

Speaker 2 (56:05):
Here, justin will Hawk's very good against non conference and
weirdly enough to say it includes Oregon State for Cal
as a non conference game in Minnesota, and San Diego
State like this could be. This could be a Cal
team if they are fine, if the transfers work out,
if quarterbacks works out, if it's Devin Brown, if it's
the freshman. You are the one who practiced this freshman day.

(56:27):
Oh jks, you got to give me a chance to
work up to JK. Songapolu, Telly, it's Jaren Kave Okay Songapoola,
Telly Songapoola Telly jaren Kave Yeah, songapoola Telly. I've got
written phonetically like eight times on my sheet here. So
he enrolled early at Oregon after flipping his commitment, went

(56:49):
through Rose Bowl practices ahead of Oregon. Ohio State was
you know, the fourth string quarterback whatever, not really, but
was on the roster as a an enrolled freshman, not
la to play against Ohio State. They went through the
Rose Bowl, Oregon got destroyed, and then he was like, nah,
I'm good cow uh. And now he's a col to
whom he was committed forever. This Colt team, by the way,

(57:13):
if if quarterback is fine, if receiver is fine, and
they have the experience up front at their best, five
and one and six to zero is not just bonkers
out of this universe. Given the schedule, I think Minnesota
is tough. I haven't done a deep dive on the
Gophers yet. You know, I think we both like BC fine,

(57:34):
especially Cal traveling across the country. You know, I like Duke.
What that game is in Berkeley. I don't know, there's
no obvious like yeah to starting three and three.

Speaker 1 (57:41):
What I jotted down is that there's a pretty good
chance it doesn't click. But there's also a pretty good
chance that it's not a total catastrophe, that it's somewhere
in the middle, because somewhere in the middle has been
I think where this program has been at with Justin Wilcox.
You know, if it continues just treading water, that's in
all likelihood the most likely outcome of all this, even

(58:05):
though there's so much new.

Speaker 2 (58:07):
Yeah, I just if they go seven and five, I
don't know if he's the coach next year.

Speaker 1 (58:11):
No, no, no, I don't think so either.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
Honestly, the cow jobs seems so impossible that he could
just he could be let go and immediately become a
two and a half million dollar defensive coordinator somewhere.

Speaker 1 (58:22):
One hundred percent, yeah, one hundred percent. I wouldn't bet
on them going over five and a half because there's
so much new. I'm not sold that they're going to
fix the line. I don't think they've got the skill
talent to overcome some deficiencies up front. And also, like
this is about the year nine of Justin Wilcox. His
best seasons were six years ago when he went seven

(58:43):
and five, Right, you know, on some level you do
have to ask the question now with all this turnover,
with some of these moves, which frankly feel like they're
out of desperation. Is this Can he turn it around now?
This late in the game. We've seen coaches do it.
I just I don't know. My actual question here with
CAL is whether the schedule is going to be advantageous

(59:06):
enough to them to paper over some of the other
issues with the team, And I agree, I guess my
more diabolical question with respect to CAL is whether Duke,
North Carolina or SMU are going to go out west
and lose because all three have to travel out there.
Like if they take one of those teams down, that
could could be a different conversation here. But I'm still

(59:29):
not fully sold on that. Over five and a half,
I wouldn't want to put my money to it. Okay,
fair enough, Virginia is our final team. I incorrectly called
them the Commodores. I don't know why, because you're rude.
They are the Cavaliers. They basically got loose. They got
smoked by everybody last year, with the exception of the
five games they won and that close home loss against Louisville.

(59:51):
You and I we often refer to the athlon preview.
I mentioned this quote on our acc Overview show.

Speaker 2 (59:59):
By the way, I've taken to calling it the bathlon
because that's where it resides, the bathlon, right next to
my toilet. It's the best.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
That's perfect. The zinger here and I won't read the
full quote was some anonymous coach said that Virginia is
never really a team you worry about playing because they
lack discipline, they have no real identity. Okay, so I
think despite the brutal honesty, Vegas is actually pretty high
on Virginia. They've got the win total at six and

(01:00:28):
a half. That's according to DraftKings year four for Tony
Elliott two three win seasons. He won five last year.
If he goes to a Bowl this year, I don't
think they're getting rid of him. If he doesn't, then
I think it's a different conversation. I think they got better.
I think they got deeper via the portal took on

(01:00:48):
thirty one transfers. It's a surge of talent. It's a
big deal, and I think the depth that they added
is probably a bigger story with how injured they've been
over the last couple of years. So the vibes are
actually pretty good. Going into this season, Chandler Morris is
going to be the quarterback. He's a guy who transfers
up from North Texas.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
Via Oklahoma and TCU as well.

Speaker 1 (01:01:08):
We've heard Chandler Morris's name now for four years. He's
better than what they had, but this is also a
different system than the air ray that he's been running elsewhere,
So how he adapts to that will be really interesting
to see. Should be deeper at running back along the line.
They brought over your boy, big number eighty three, Jayden
Thomas from Notre Dame after losing Malachi Fields to Notre Dame,

(01:01:30):
so a bit of a trade there. They were very
targeted in how they used the portal on defense to
try and give a boost to the line there and
the secondary. It really went for it in the secondary,
which they absolutely needed to think that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
Yeah, So what I found in my research, surprisingly so,
is that of the guys they targeted, tended to be
more guys with an aggressive attacking mentality, guys that could
help with the pass rush that type of thing.

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
Uh huh.

Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
It's just a lot new, you know. This is kind
of a recurring now in the Year of Our Lord
twenty twenty five, there's a lot new I have we
seen the track record for Tony Elliott thus far where
we've got confidence in him bringing all this together and
taking a big step forward after three years on the job.

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
If there are better players on this too deep, sure
it might just be a Jimmy and Joe situation. If
their secondary is only underwhelming, that's a big improvement from
where they were last year. One of the best exercises
you could have done last year was play receiver against
this Virginia.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
Oh my god, they're terrible.

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
Yeah, So I don't know. I don't feel great about Virginia.
I like the aggression that they're operating with, but yeah,
I I just going into a season. If you're gonna
feel good about a team making a Bowl, going eight
and four something like that, having a major turnaround or
a major jump, to me, there has to be something

(01:02:54):
proven on the roster specifically, and I like Chandler Morris
as a quarterback. I think if the offensive line is
any good, they might be able to run a decent
enough offense. But against what is a Their schedule is
pretty easy, right, It's the easiest in the conference. I
believe Even then, like they're going to be giving up

(01:03:15):
twenty eight to thirty a game something like that. I
guess if they're a team that you feel confident in
for whatever reason, they're gonna win a bunch of fifty
to fifty games. The sure they're gonna go six and six,
seven to five. But even then, even against this schedule,
I don't feel great. Just a talent level thing.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
To me, it's talent, it's taking advantage of a schedule. Again,
they miss both Clemson and Miami and SMU and SMU,
Yeah and SMU. Four looks like four and eight. Can
they manage two to four more wins to get to
a bull Can they get the eight wins against this?
They have eight wins. It's a revelation given where the
program's been. I don't see it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
Well. NC State's gonna be in a brawl the week
they play against Virginia, the week they play the week
before they play against Virginia. Correct, So there's that. So
now you're looking for with Virginia. Okay, Stanford at home,
you're looking pretty good there. The week before, Florida State
has Virginia on the road, which I think is a
Friday night, So it's a short week road for Florida

(01:04:12):
State after the worst FBS program in America and Kent State.
That's what Florida State has. And then Virginia has I
don't know who Wazoo has the week before them, Louisville
has Pit on the road. Your dear dear pitt. Panthers
love pit. So that's weird little stinker potential. North Carolina
is traveling across the country to play against cal the
week before Virginia. Weird little stinker potential.

Speaker 1 (01:04:34):
You like that? That's gonna be your new thing, isn't it.
That's gonna be on a shirt someday.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
Some weird little stinker. I don't think people are gonna
love wearing that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
Sh it'd be a good baby thing.

Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
I digress. Duke has yukon the week before, but it's
on the road, who knows, And Virginia Tech the week
before they play. Virginia has Miami, so I don't know.
Maybe they're a little gumpy.

Speaker 1 (01:04:57):
There is some weird little stinker potential here with Virginia.
I'll give you that. I'm not putting my money.

Speaker 2 (01:05:04):
So you're banking on a lot there.

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
Yeah, I'm not putting my money in over six and
a half. But you can at least chart that course.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
Yeah, you can squint if a lot of these transfers
on defense work out.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
Sure, the Virginia Cavaliers, Cavaliers, the who's for those playing
along at home?

Speaker 2 (01:05:20):
All right?

Speaker 1 (01:05:21):
That does it for the ACC, my friend. We have
gone through all seventeen teams in somewhat painstaking detail. We
encourage you all to hit us up Solidverble at gmail
dot com. Let us know where we're right, where we're wrong.
Don't be a jerk about it. We're going to be
wrong about some stuff. You're always going to know your
team better than us. But we're doing our part here
to keep everybody entertained as much as possible and give

(01:05:42):
you reasons to feel entertained about the ACC. This coming year,
it's going to be an entertaining conference. There's just no
two ways about it. I'm excited to see how this
thing shakes out. I have seen a fair amount of
disparity in looking across all of these previews and all
of these YouTube videos that I have been watching prepare
for these episodes. Doesn't seem to be a set order

(01:06:04):
of finish in the ACC. You had a pretty good
idea for who's going to be at the top, but
after maybe the top four or five teams, it's a
big old hodgepodg And I think that's going to make
it pretty fun.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
Little sidebar here. You know what I think about when
I think about the ACC right now, I think about
we're doing our Live straight, which're gonna be doing at
twelve eastern every Saturday night after all the action, and
I think about random ACC games ending that aren't necessarily
nationally consequential, right, It'll be you know, like SMU Duke
went Late and stuff like that, where nobody feels a

(01:06:36):
lot of animus for the ACC really, I guess other
than Florida State and Clemson Boosters.

Speaker 1 (01:06:41):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (01:06:42):
But there is something about like one of those games
ending in a weird way North Carolina Wake Forest, and
then right after on the field is Taylor Tannenbaum and EJ.
Manual trying to make sense of it all, and I'm
just sort of charmed, Like I like their show. Nobody
like hates the ACC like they do the Big Ten
or the SEC. I like that. There's just weird, like

(01:07:03):
not nationally consequential emotional emotion happening after those games. But
I kind of like the ACC vibes right now. I
don't know how to explain it. I'm in on ACC vibes.

Speaker 1 (01:07:13):
Well, the ACC has been able to like hold itself together,
and they brought in some reinforcements. However odd it might
be geographically speaking, right, but they brought on some reinforcements
to try and make sure that the conference could exist
if they had teams leave, which could still be the
case at some point in the future. But they forced

(01:07:33):
it down everybody's throat to take this deal where they're
going to pay out more to the most popular teams.
I'm sure there are plenty of reasons not to like
that if you're a school like a I don't know,
Wake Forest, but they have just been doing enough to
get by. They have just been doing enough to survive.
And interestingly enough, when I compared the ACC last year
to the ACC this year, I think this year is

(01:07:55):
infinitely more interesting, infinitely more interesting. Last year, the big
story for sure coming out of it was Florida State
going two and ten. That was a disaster. Maybe Miami
missing the playoff, but certainly what Clemson did SMU getting
in like that was an interesting story in its own right,
but Florida State dropping in the manner that they did

(01:08:15):
was like a huge surprise across college football. I agree
this year, I just look across this conference and I
feel so much differently about it. I just think there
are so many teams with potential. There are a bunch
of teams again and the tier that we talked about
today that we how are you supposed to handicap some
of these teams? I have no idea? So that makes
it interesting. That gives us a reason to watch, you know,

(01:08:36):
maybe in the throes of the season when there's no
other game on and a weird three thirty window. Yeah,
the ACC is going to keep it real.

Speaker 2 (01:08:43):
I'm in here's your final question, ty you ready?

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
Yes, computer.

Speaker 2 (01:08:49):
Power Conference football, though it's still going. Power Conference Football
features four head coach Brent's. Who are they Brent's.

Speaker 1 (01:08:59):
There's a Brent Prye, There's a Brent Brennan, Brent Priye,
Brent Brennan, tell me the other two. I don't want
this to be terrible.

Speaker 2 (01:09:10):
Another one in the ACC. The ACC is dominating the
market on head coach Brent's.

Speaker 1 (01:09:17):
Uh oh, Brent Key, Brent Keyah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:20):
The fourth is a hot seat coach in the SEC
potential hot seat coach. We'll see.

Speaker 1 (01:09:24):
Oh, Brent Venables.

Speaker 2 (01:09:26):
Brent Venables, I give you right now. On October eleventh
in Atlanta, we've got Brentertainment, Brent Key against Brent Prye
to decide the king of the Brents. Okay, that's it.

Speaker 1 (01:09:46):
They have fifty percent of college football's Brent coaches.

Speaker 2 (01:09:49):
I'm spitting all over my mind. Entertainment for Entertainment, October eleventh, Atlanta, Georgia,
Bobby Dodd Stadium, ACC Network be there.

Speaker 1 (01:09:57):
Hit follow, hit subscribe. You don't miss any everyp So
let's go to overbawlers dot com. If you want to
further support what Dan end I do for that, go
over there Dan for myself, Tie, thanks for bearing with us.
Big twelve coming up next. We'll talk to you then.
In the meantime as well, we stay soled peace,

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}ACC TEAM PREVIEWS: Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, NC State, Duke, Syracuse, Boston College, Cal & Virginia | 2025 College Football