UIW Goes Down + Mercer-UC Davis Didn’t Happen + Week 1 Best Games

On this episode, Sam and Zach discuss:
-3 Game Balls and a Flag from Week 0
-Reacting to Nicholls knocking off No. 5 UIW
-Thoughts on Mercer-UC Davis resulting in a no-contest due to lighting
-Most intriguing Week 1 games. Will we see any FCS over FBS wins? Can Lehigh make a statement? How juicy is Sac State at SDSU?
The podcast is presented by HERO Sports and BetMGM. Visit HERO Sports for FCS coverage and BetMGM for online betting odds

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
All right, Welcome in FCS Tackle Football fans to another
episode of the FCS Football Talk podcast, presented by Hero
Sports and bet MGM. I'm your host, Sam Herder of
hero Sports, and as always, I'm joined by my co
host during the season, Zach McKinnell. He's with FCS Football
Central and the blue Bloods, and we have games to
talk about, we have games to preview. How sweet it

(00:37):
is to finally get to this point in the season,
and our usual cadence will be usually record and released
the podcast on Tuesdays throughout the season. We'll do a
popular segment that the fans like and listeners like with
three game balls in a flag. That's how we'll I
guess review the previous weekend of FCS Action. Then we'll

(00:58):
dive into some kind of high level macro storylines, you
know that's that came out from the last weekend, and
then we'll also dive into the upcoming weekend and preview
some of the top games while also rattling off some
other games. That's that's certainly interest stuff. So Zach, how
was how was your Saturday? Being able to catch an

(01:19):
FCS action.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
And it was great?

Speaker 3 (01:21):
It felt like Christmas morning, and it was like, like
everyone says, week zero is kind of the appetizer sound,
and now we get like the full course starting on
Thursday this week. So it was great and I know
how you feel about it, and I do too. The
fact that I was able to sit down and like
watch each game pretty intensely because they're wanting a lot
of competition to divide my attention, and now I had

(01:41):
to get out like the three different TVs and have
quad boxes on all of them because there's going to
be so much going on. So it was kind of
like the last relaxing weekend before pure chaos.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yeah, that's the difficult parts usually on Saturdays is when
there is you know, it's one o'clock and you have
eleven o'clock games finished up and you have one o'clock
games starting and you're trying to catch as much action
as you can and you're trying not to miss anything,
but your eyes are just bouncing around. So that's why
week zero was so fun. And thankfully we have things

(02:12):
spread out a little bits this upcoming weekend every week,
I should say, with Thursday, Friday, Saturday games. But let's
kick this off right away. I'll hand it to you
with your first game ball from week zero.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
How about Trey Page, Yeah, from Charlton State at running back.
I mean, coming into the year, I think me and
you both, you know, we talked about Tiland Hans transferring
him from Hawaii. He got the start but got banged
up early. Yeah, and as soon as Trey Page got
insered into the lineup man, that offense really took off.
And this was a guy that only played in two
games last year, Sam, but finished his first real full

(02:48):
game of action, fifteen carries, one hundred and seventy rushing yards,
two touchdowns, had a huge eighty nine yard or early
in the game, and really truly Tarltan. I mean, Portland
State had no answer for Tartan's offense, and a lot
of it was due to Trey Page. And I think
you kind of look across Victor Gabala's didn't have a
bad game, Sam, but he didn't have to do much

(03:08):
because they ran the ball so well, and a lot
of that was Trey Page. And he comes from I know,
down in Alabama, Georgia, Florida. We're really big on high
school football, Sam. He was a really really highly taldy
kid coming out of Langston Hughes, which is one of
the top schools in the state of Georgia. Man, and
he was unbelievable at Langston Hughes. He averaged over nine
yards per Carrie Sam at his last two seasons, and

(03:31):
as a senior average like eleven yards per carry, if
I'm not mistaken. Was like a track kid all state
in that as well. So it's really interesting to see.
We talked about recruiting not mattering a lot, Sam, especially
in terms of stars, but man, this is just where
FCS programs can fit in this new landscape. Man finding
guys like Trey Page, who could have been a guy

(03:52):
going G five or even lower P four. Sam, he's
on Tarlton State's roster because he probably got overlooked in
this recruiting process. Now and now look at him as
a restorer freshman making a huge impact for the offense.
Is to back up running back they got thrust into
a starting role due to injury.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Yeah, he he's going to be electric and once he's
in the open field, forget about it. And I mean
even some of some of those rounds Portland State defenders
looked like they had a decent angle on it and
then he just erased that in a hurry, and so
his presence is going to be huge this year. I'm
not sure the severity of Hines's injury, but it didn't
look good. His his elbow bent the way it was

(04:28):
not supposed to ben so that one looked pretty pretty painful.
But they have the emergency of Page is huge for
Tarleton's offense, especially to have that that threat of a
of a rushing attack, which makes them so difficult to
defend with that slow rpo however you want to describe it.
That that makes it that really puts the UH the

(04:48):
back seven in conflict. UH to have Page as a
threat in the backfield is huge for that offense because
we know that they'll get theirs with the passing attack.
My first game ball, I'm going to give it to
Nichols Will. We'll touch on more specifically, you know, their
defense and and we'll obviously touch on the U I
W side of it. You know, I think somewhat naturally

(05:10):
win an unranked team beats a top five team, you know,
usually from a national angle, we're all kind of looking
at it as the number five team lost to an
unranked team, more more so than the unranked team beats
you know, the number five team, But we definitely have
to give Nichols its flowers here. Came in with a
great game plan. Shout out to Tommy right time. You're

(05:30):
Tommy Rye backy as well with his head coaching debut.
He's been on that staff, you know for a while,
and for him to get promoted to head coach and
to have this as his head coaching debut, get a
home win, you know, I think is massive for for
a nick for Nichols, and you know, they just played
fantastic defensively, and you know they had people you know,

(05:52):
all all over the country even though is that you
know covered the FBS tweeting about their upset win because
this was the second game of the season overall, and
so just a huge moment for Nichols there.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
Yeah, to kind of help you build on that, Sam,
I'll skip to my third game ball and then come
back to my second one so we can kind of
keep this flowing. My third game ball went to the
edge room at Nichols, Jake Delmotto and Joe Mason. They
had outstanding performances. Man. They combined for eighteen total tackles,
five tackles for loss, three and a half sacks, two

(06:26):
forced fumbles in a fumble recovery. Insane production. And I
think we all kind of expected it from Dalmatto just
because he was what the preseason all Americans, Sam. Everybody
remembers how he had a breakout year last year, But
what's lost in his story is that he was playing
running back two years ago, which is just insane that

(06:47):
they made that move, evaluated his talent and put him
at the right position. But I feel like Joe Mason
kind of got overlooked in this preseason process, Sam, And
it's mainly because he got hurt last year. If remember
he started in the first three games, had a red
shirt year, had a season in the injury two years ago.
In twenty twenty three, he was second in the south

(07:07):
Land with six and a half sacks. Had a really,
really good year. This could be one of the better
edge rushing duos nationally.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
And I think we saw Nichols defense.

Speaker 3 (07:17):
They didn't have a great year last year, but we
even talked about in the preview, Sam, if there was
one thing Nichols had last year was defense. They ranked
top fifteen nationally in yards per play allowed. This edge
room is so good, and when you combine that with
the defensive tackle room with led by Rash Lovelace, their
front four is as good as almost anyone in the country. Man,
And they really gave in carnate words, offensive line a

(07:39):
lot of problem. But Jake Damado Joe Mason two of
the best performances overall, not even just defensive performances in
Week zero. Man, I'm really excited to see how far
this defense could grow throughout the season.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah, they had a terrific rushing defense last year and
most of those guys are coming back, plus with Joe
Mason coming back from injury is well. I mean, we
talked about this as far as this is a great
first test for uiw's offensive line, which was to me
the biggest question mark, you know, along with quarterback, the
biggest preseason question mark about UIW. And we thought this

(08:14):
was going to be a great test. And they certainly
failed that test because their heads were swimming and they
did not know where pressures were coming from. And you know,
sometimes it wasn't even necessarily pressures, it was just straight
up getting beat by some of these Nickels defenders. My
second game ball, I'll go to the offensive side of
the football. I'll go with Idaho State's offense as a whole.

(08:35):
Idaho State did lose thirty eight thirty one at UNLV.
I believe this started out as Idaho State being around
like a twenty two and a half point favorite, which
I thought was a twenty two and a half point
underdog guy, I should say, which I thought was was
probably fair, But it ballooned all the way up to
the Bengals being a thirty point underdog, which I thought

(08:55):
was just way too much because we've seen them in
previous years with their explosive offense, give some FBS teams
trouble and at least be able to hang around, and
I thought they were going to be able to do that.
To do that in this game, you know, I think
I can't remember specifically what I predicted, but I did
have U and LV winning by two to three scores.
But I wrote that Idaho States offense is good enough

(09:16):
to at least make this interesting, and certainly it was.
It was more interesting and closer than what I anticipated,
and the Bengals had opportunities to win this game. Five
hundred and fifty five yards of total offense. Jordan Cook
came back. He was Idaho States starter two years ago.
He sat out last year. On Saturday, he finished thirty
to fifty three hundred and eighty yards, one touchdown, but

(09:37):
three interceptions, and that was his struggle two years ago.
I remember watching him and going this guy as far
as just arm strength and some of the throws he makes,
He's maybe one of the more talented quarterbacks in the
Big Sky. But he had like thirteen touchdowns twelve interceptions
like something like that, not a very impressive touchdown to
interception ratio. And those interceptions hit him again and this

(10:01):
one and you know, probably forced some things. But overall,
I thought he had a really good game, really good game.
And then dayson Brooks as well, the running back for
Idaho States one hundred and thirty plus rushing yards, a
couple of touchdowns, he looked phenomenal as well. I didn't
feel great about Idaho States defense, you know, coming in
coming into this one, I didn't think they'd be able
to generate enough stops to win this game. But they

(10:23):
also got put in. I was just obviously some tough
situations with with some of those interceptions that Cook did throw.

Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah, specifically offensive like you said the Shawn Brooks that
running back man has such a good game, and then he
had a let He forced eleven missed tackles this weekend
and it running backs. I mean, just insane production from
him my last one, and we've we could have done
every running back, probably a running back in every single game.
Also at the uy W game, because I have another

(10:51):
running back here and we probably are missing one too
from a losing team in the same game with Trey Holly.
But I'm gonna go Chris Moseley for North Carolina Central
as my last game. Ball Man, what a performance from him.
Seventeen carries, one hundred and eighty two rushing yards, one touchdown,
average ten point seven yards per carry Sam, And this
was the stat of the night for me. He averaged

(11:12):
four and a half yards before contact this week is Sam,
So he was almost five yards down the field before
getting touched on average, which just shows how good this
offensive line was for North Carolina Central.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Mostly had a lot of pressure on him.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
Tried to replace an All Conference All the American guy
last year who is now transferred up to Virginia. But
I was really really impressed with Mosley. I was high
on coming into the game. Last year, he averaged eleven
yards per carry for the season, and I think Chris
mosley Man is going to be a real dark horse
for the Meek Offensive Player of the Year and you
saw why this weekend. And he also contributes on special teams.

(11:47):
Who's going to rack up that kick return yardedge as well?

Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah, my last game ball here, I'm going to give
to Cayden Pinnick even though doesn't his performance doesn't doesn't
really count at least on paper. But I thought he
had a great quarterbacking debut for UC Davis redshirt freshman
three star recruits. I think we saw, especially in the
first half, why he won that quarterback battle, just you know,

(12:11):
some of the throws he was making, be able to
throw on the run, being able to escape pressure and
utilize his legs. He really carried that offense for UC
Davis in the first half. Second half cooled off a
little bit. I thought Mercer made some good adjustments. Certainly
he sent more pressure, you know, on him, which I
didn't think that UC Davis offensive line handled some of
that pressure very well. But you do see that and

(12:32):
whether it's a backup quarterback comes in or it's a
new starting quarterback. They start hot, and then the defensive
coaches for the opposing team they see, Okay, whatever his strengths,
what are his weaknesses, what are his tendencies, And you know,
they take those sort of things away, or they try
to exaggerate, you know, some of those weaknesses or take
or you know, he maybe he has some tells, you know,

(12:53):
you know, whatever the case may be. So maybe not
too much of a surprise that he cooled off a
little bit in the second half, But I think out
the first half really showed his dual threat abilities, you know,
how much of a playmaker he could be. It was
a great sign for a UC Davis offense that otherwise,
you know, really for the most part stayed intact. Obviously
new look running back room as well, but a super

(13:14):
experienced offensive line, great experience at tight ends and wide
receiver as well. I think the Davis, the Davis offense
has a chance to be really good if Pennic can
continue to you know, defenses through the counter at him.
Now he's gonna have to counter that, you know, and
so he's gonna have to continue to evolve his game
because some of the stuff he's good at the defenses

(13:34):
are going to try to take away, so he'll try
to He'll have to continue to evolve his game as
a young quarterback.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
Yeah, I was really impressed with him early in that game.
That rushing touchdownstand was so athletic, where he got out
of the pocket and just made a play. That's that's
kind of something we talked about in the preview where
he brings something different to this offense, and it's the
athleticism that and that they just haven't had a quarterback
with Miles Hastings where he was such a good pocket passer,
but he wasn't really able to do anything like that

(14:02):
with his legs. So we're really really impressed with him.
Move it to my flag, Sam, I'm gonna go southern
to offense. And I know this may need a little
bit of explanation because people are just gonna go look
at the stats and see they averaged almost seven yards
per play, See that they rushed for two hundred and
fifty yards. But Sam, outside of the two plays in

(14:23):
which they scored, they really had nothing going offensively whatsoever.
They had a big sixty nine yard run early in
the game, and then Trey Holly broke out an eighty
yard run late in the second quarter. Outside of those
two runs, those which accounted for about one hundred and
forty yards they almost had. They barely cracked two hundred

(14:45):
yards to total offense. They ended up with only eighty
eight passing yards net total average less than five yards
per attempt, and they had nothing going offensively. Now, obviously
it came out later that jayaln Woods was suspended for
the person for half of the game from missing the
bus before the game, so they had to go with
Cameron McCoy.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
But it was just it was just not pretty man.

Speaker 3 (15:06):
The offensive line didn't play well, They got dominated up front,
both quarterbacks were under pressure all game long. Really, outside
of that one explosive play from Trey Holly, they weren't
able to really establish a true rushing attack. And then
the wide receivers is as bad as the passing attack was,
the wide receivers were not very good at making plays
for their quarterback had a few big drops as well,

(15:28):
and I just think overall, outside of the two explosive
plays they had, Sam I was really unimpressed with what
Southern brought offensively, and I think it contributed just to
what happened on the field where North Carolina Central really
pulled away with that Miax Slack challenge.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yeah, all right, that's we can rip the band aid
off now because I'll I'll throw the flag, you know
on UIW, and we can talk about their side of
this performance on Saturday. You know. Obviously, a very very
disappointing loss for UIW came in preseason number five, actually
preseason number four, if you want to look at the
coach's poll, you know, with with tough games remaining as

(16:07):
well in the non conference. I think I wrote or
said somewhere that UIW can't afford a letdown game in
in this one because they still have Eastern Washington coming
this week, FBS UTSA, then two ranked opponents as well
that made the playoffs last year, Northern Arizona and Applene Christian.
And so this was you know, you almost felt like

(16:27):
a must win for the ui W and with all
the hype that they had coming into this season, which
you know, I still think is fair. Like two things
can be true in that, you know, all of us
that that voted ui W, you know, in the top five,
which I was one of them, like we were wrong
on that as of right now, Like who knows, maybe
maybe they figure things out and they go on a

(16:48):
nice run here. That could happen. It doesn't seem super
likely with what we saw on Saturday, but as of
right now, obviously was over ranked and overrated coming into
this season. But you know, with that said, there's I've
said this before with football, and that's you know, with
it being a game of depth, usually there's a lot

(17:09):
more coming back than maybe casual fans might realize. And
so when it comes to the preseason top twenty five,
like usually there is enough on paper to warrant why
we have a team number five or six or seven, eight,
you know, whatever the case may be. And on paper
with uiw coming off of a quarter final appearance, you know,
with the talent they retained and the talent they came
and the talent that they brought in, you know, I

(17:31):
still don't I guess, have regrets putting them, you know,
in my top five, just because I didn't know who
else would deserve to be in that number five spots.
You know, UC Davis had more question marks, Harlton had
more question marks. Illinois State not sure about that. Roady,
I don't know, Montana a lot of question marks, so
hindsight is what it is. I still thought preseason wise,
UIW had as good, has had as good of an

(17:53):
argument as anyone to be preseason ranked in the top
five there. But obviously quarterback play was not their offensive
line play that was not there. And that's the great
unknown variable in this season overall, because four of the
top five teams have new starting quarterbacks and UIW still

(18:14):
has a really talented roster, but quarterback play isn't there.
You know, Montana State, I think I really like their roster.
Quarterback play will say we'll see same thing with South
Kota State in Montana State really good ear South Kota State,
Northcota State, really good nucleus there. But if quarterback play struggles,
that completely changes the direction of their season. And I
think we saw an example of that with UYW, who

(18:36):
we know has talent on the outside and in the
running back room. I thought their defense played pretty well,
but you know, the quarterback play was just not there.
So definitely have to throw the flag here on UIW.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
Yeah there's multiple flags that could be thrown here, and yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
We can go position by position and really break it
down like and.

Speaker 3 (18:56):
I'll say this the only unit that I want to
throw a flag on Salam And this is something because
everyone's going to overreact and everyone's, like you said, hindsight
is perfect vision. But the defense for a Cardinal Word
actually played up to the expectation. I feel like that
we both had the defense looked really good, and this

(19:16):
is a defense that I thought perform well. So now
put in really bad situations, this defense only allowed thirteen
points this weekend because you had the pick six. And
on top of that too, you look at some of
the drives that Nichols put together. They had the field
goal drive they had in the first quarter stand they
only had to go thirty one yards, the next field

(19:39):
goal they only had to go twenty eight yards. And
the only drive that they gave up that was a
long drive was that big pass from Reduce Hogan in
the early fourth quarter that kind of put this thing away.
I thought the Cardinal Works defense lived up to the hype.
I was impressed with aj Tisdale. Kendrick Stone had a
big game. I thought the defensive line played pretty well.

(20:00):
They did a really really good job of taking the
run game away from Nichols, which we both thought was
kind of gonna be the focus of this team with
mikel Brock especially. He ended with ten carries for twenty
two yards two point two yards per carry. So I
personally thought the defense played really well. It's all offensively
though man Richard Torres to me, he's got a lot

(20:23):
of growing up to do, Man, and you expect that
with the guy who's really inexperience. But I really didn't
like his pocket presence. There was at least on the
second big sack where they lost like it felt like
forty yards. I don't know what the protection was. I
don't know if that was an all and we're not
in the room, so I've been giving him the benefit
of doubt. But you got to know where the hot

(20:43):
defender is and or you got to know how to
Whoever is responsible, whether it's the center or him, has
to be able to.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
Set the pass protection correctly.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
Because they had guys blocking air on the other side
of the offensive line. So it makes me feel like
the protection was slid the wrong direction. You just let
a free rusher come off the siding. The quarterback had
his back turned. The first one, Jake Dilmado just whooped
the tackle and he had no shot. So and then
Also with Torres, I just feel like after I don't
know how you felt. Early that first drive, he looked

(21:12):
pretty comfortable. I thought he had a solid first drive,
But after that first big sack where he got really
smacked off the backside.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
Sam, he just looked off like.

Speaker 3 (21:21):
I think that really shook him up as a younger,
more inexperienced quarterback. And I'll be very curious to see
if Torres is to God moving forward. But the offensive
line is the big issue for me, Sam. They were
horrible in the run blocking game, they were horrible in
pass protection.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
They just got whooped up front.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
And I think a cartnet Word has the wide receiver
talent with Cheetah and James and Jalen Walthaw and.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
Lord all had a good game.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
But if you can't block anybody, wide receiver is a
dependent position. You have to have good offensive line playing
good quarterback play. And I really thought this was the
most disjointed and carnate Word offense that I've seen in
the past few years.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
Yeah. Absolutely, And for those curious for when it comes
to the polls, we don't vote again this week. We'll
wait until Week one games, and then next week will
be the next ballot or the next top twenty five
polls that come outs. So technically speaking, ui W still
is you know, the number five team you know in

(22:21):
the country. But where would you how would you react
as far as you know Nichols, where would you slot
them at? Where'd you slot UIW at so kind of
a peak ahead? Obviously we have, you know, games, they're
still they're playing week one and so things could change
even more. But if you had to vote this week,
how would you kind of slide ui W and Nichols?

Speaker 3 (22:43):
You see, it would have been so tough, like you said,
because I don't we don't have any data points for
any of the other teams above them, really, so I probably,
I'm not gonna lie, probably would have dropped incarnate Words
somewhere in the like twenty to twenty five range.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
I just I just think offen Man, they looked really,
really bad.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
I would say I'd probably had them slotted somewhere like
right at the back end of the top twenty five,
somewhere in like that twenty two to twenty five range,
And I'd probably have Nickels somewhere in like the eighteen
to twenty range a.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
Little bit ahead of them.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
I just feel weird without having any other data points,
just to throw Nickels into the top ten because offensively,
I thought they did some. I thought Dude Hogan played
a good game, man, but I still think they didn't
show enough offensive explosiveness that where I would feel comfortable
ranking them above some of those middle of the pack teams,
Like you had teams what like Rhode Island and Mercer

(23:36):
in Northern Arizona and whoever Montana all in that kind
of range of that next tier above them Jackson State.
I personally couldn't see putting Nickels over any of those teams.
So I'd have them above Incarnate Word, but it'd probably
be eighteen or lower, and I'd have Incarnate Word right
on the tier of dropping out of the top twenty
five if they end up losing this upcoming week.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, I'm right there with you. And you know, usually,
in my opinion, there should be it's okay to have
pretty big movements in your ballot week to week, especially
early on in the season, and things will shake out
where you know where they shake out. You know, me
UIW can win their next seven games and they're back
you know where they were potentially before. So things always
shake out how they do, but early on typically we'll

(24:20):
have some some big movements and both of our ballots
as we try to order things one through twenty five.
Let's go back to the FCS kickoff game there with
the mercer and UC Davis and you know the lightning
delay that turned into straight up cancelation and being considered
a no contest. You know, my thoughts were, you know,

(24:41):
I guess, I don't know. I obviously the lightning must
have been hanging around there for for quite some time,
and to a certain extent, I guess I understand not
trying to restart the game in the middle of the night,
or not trying to, you know, to finish the game
the next day. I guess from a player protection standpoint,
that would make sense because this with this being your
first game, those guys are going to be awfully sore

(25:02):
the next day and for them to strap it up
and finish the last eight or so seven or so
minutes of that game. I could I could see that.
I could see that being the rationale plus with you know,
travel things and all of that. But at the same time,
this is such a key game for both and really
how this ended negatively impacts both, I think, just because

(25:23):
whether it's Mercer on the bubble or you see Davis
on the playoff bubble, or one of them or both
of them fighting for a top eight playoff seed, this
is now not only one less Division one win that
they'll have and we saw that was South Dakota last
year with the Portland State cancelation, but it's also a
lost opportunity for a ranked win. I mean, if Mercer

(25:45):
could have pulled off that comeback, which you know, on
one hand it seemed like they were on their way
to winning that game, you could also argue that you know,
you see, Davis would have found a way to win
that game, but had Mercer won, that would have been
a huge win for them and the SoCon. Now it's
you know, all for not. With that said, though, I
kind of wonder, like me as a voter, I don't
know how the playoff, how the playoff committee is going

(26:06):
to view this, but me as a voter, like this
game doesn't count on paper, But I'm a human being
and I saw this with my eyes, right. So if
UC Davis goes on and has a really good record
and they're whatever seven and one in a top five
team and Mercer's sitting there at six and two. Maybe
Mercer doesn't have maybe any like any super great wins,

(26:30):
but I saw them go toe to toe with UC Davis,
who I'm also high on, Like, I feel like I
can still use this game and how it played out
to help with my evaluation of Mercer, and so do
you feel that same way as well as far as
this doesn't count on paper, but me as a voter,
like I can still evaluate both teams and use this
as a gauge even though it doesn't count as a

(26:51):
win or a loss.

Speaker 3 (26:53):
Yeah, this absolutely would have been counted in my ballot
if we had to submit this week, and it will
count moving forward. I don't think it counts as a
loss for either team in my head, But for me,
I was a little bit hesitant on Mercer to put
them in my top fifteen. I think they earned the
ranking this weekend because there is a I can't predict
the future sound, but there was a really good chance

(27:15):
they were going to go down and at least get
three on that last drive right before they called it,
and if they score there, they take the lead. So
I was really impressed with Mercer's second half adjustments in
this game, and you mentioned all the different I mean
impact like impacts that this could have. Because what happens
if we get down to the playoff bubble and Mercer

(27:38):
and UC Davis are both on the bubble?

Speaker 2 (27:41):
Right, who do you pick? Because you can't look.

Speaker 3 (27:44):
At this game as a win, and so does the
committee just give UC Davis to win?

Speaker 2 (27:49):
In their head?

Speaker 3 (27:49):
Do they say Mercer was on a drive so Mercy,
you know, they thought Mercer was going to win. And
also to do both of these teams get impacted on
the bubble and when they pick a team that's played
twelve games, because if you got a seven to four
UC Davis and a seven and four Mercer and then
an eight and four team from somewhere else, is the
eight and four team get in because the one extra win? Yeah,

(28:13):
there's gonna because I've been telling people, I really think
eight's the number this year, Sam, Yeah, in the playoffs Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
I think so too, especially eight d one wins as
well with it being a twelve game schedule. And we
saw it last year too with I mean South Dakota
beat North Dakota State and NDSU still got you know,
the higher seed because NDSU had I think two more
Division one wins because South Dakota played a non D

(28:40):
one and then they're Portland State game that got canceled. Man,
we talked about it at the time, like this could
be a big deal because it's you can't assume that
South Dakota would have won that game, or I mean,
you can't assume it's but you can't really factor that
in it if you're the playoff committee, because it's straight
up didn't happen. And having not only one less D
one win, but two less D one wins really impacted

(29:02):
South Dakota and beating D two D three AI NAIA.
Those we used to think those were non counters. That's
not the correct term, because they do count as a
win on your on your resume, but Division one wins
also counts on your playoff resumes. And you know, sometimes
the tiebreaker between being the eight seed or the nine seed,
or being the last team in or the last team

(29:23):
outs is how many D one wins you have. So
I definitely think this could could play an impact, like
you said.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
And I just wonder, especially with the sokon only getting
one bid last year, if I'm the you know, in
Commissioner Michael Cross has talked about this very publicly, Sam
about how the Stoke coon should be a two bit
or moral leave, and it puts so much pressure on Mercer.
Now they get to that eight win Mark, Yeah, you
got to get to eight and three. I would think

(29:52):
that would be the minimal because if you're sitting there
at seven and four, I think for both these teams
you just don't have a really good shot and puts
a lot of pressure because Mercer and See Davis have
some pretty tough schedules and there's a few spots where
they could take a loss. But I'm with you them.
I'm gonna consider it in my next ballot, which will
be this after after week one. But I kind of
say this now. I was really impressed with both teams.

(30:13):
Otavius Iisen and running back for Mercer. I know he
got banged up there toward the end of the game
and he was on an absolute role. I was really
impressed with Kaden Pinnick in the first half. I think
you saw the tail of two halves for Kayden Pinnick.
I think you saw his ceiling in the first half
them you saw the red shirt freshman come out of
the second half where you saw a little bit more
grown pains, and then again Rex Connors was probably the

(30:36):
best player on the field, absolute masterful performance. He had
seven solo tackles twelve total before the game was called,
and also two men Andrew Zoch I thought had a
really really good game off the edge. I don't think
he loaded the stat boxes. I don't think Mercer even
released any stats after the game. You see Davis at
least kind of released them, but I don't remember what
a stat line was. But I just remember watching the

(30:57):
game and I thought Zach had another great performance. Man,
his ceiling is so high as a sophomore.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
Yeah, and DJ Smith too, I thought he looked pretty
good in the second half there after a choppy first
half the Mercer quarterback. So definitely things that both teams
can can build off of, and we'll see big picture
wise how much this no contest, this no contest impacts
them both. Let's dive into week one here. We're going
to touch on two games, two ranked versus ranked matchups,

(31:25):
and then we'll kind of rattle off some other games
that intrigue us. First off, number twenty five Richmond is
going to number fourteen, Lee High Conference game with Richmond
now in the Patriot League. This is a rematch of
last year's first round playoff game where Lee High beat
Richmond twenty to sixteen. Kind of a tale of two

(31:46):
different teams here. As far as their their offseason, Lee
High retained most of its talents. You know, I think
they're gonna have a pretty experienced offensive line. Their top
two running backs Gean and Green and Luke Yoder, plus
their quarterback Haydon Johnson. They were all underclassmen last year.
They're all coming back. But then defensively, seven of the

(32:08):
top ten tacklers for Lee High they're coming back, and
I think they have a chance to have a really
good defensive line with Spattney and Burke coming back up front.
There Richmond, I'm not super high on Richmond this year.
I know. You know, obviously they were on enough ballots
to sneak into the top twenty five there. I didn't
have Richmond as a preseason top twenty five team. I

(32:28):
just feel like they lost so much, whether it's you know,
a starting quarterback, top running back, most of their key
pass catchers, most of their offensive line. They only bring
back four of their top eleven tacklers. I know, like
Carter Glassmeyer, he's kind of next in line to be
that standout Richmond linebacker. And they do have some experience
in the quarterback room as well, some guys that have

(32:50):
starting experience from previous seasons. But to me, you know,
they lose a whole lot the Spiders do for me
to consider them in the top twenty five. Meanwhile, Lee High,
I mean, they gave Idaho a decent game for at
least a half two and a half quarters there. So
Lee High, to me, I think, is is that Patriot
League team that could maybe make a little bit of

(33:10):
noise in the playoffs this year.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
I agree.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
I also did not have Richmond ranked in my preseason ballot.
They were in like kind of my honorable mention range,
like around that thirtieth spot. And I'm with you, I'm
just a little bit worried about what they have coming back. Now.
If Kyle Wickersham can return to his twenty twenty three version,
maybe that changes a little bit. That's where he had
I think fourteen total touchdowns, they had like eighteen hundred

(33:35):
total yards. They got Jvon Griffin back at wide receiver,
you got Camden Bird and Carter Glass Meal, like you said,
fits a defensive tackle, but there's a lot to rebuild
in that secondary as well. I want to say they
have one returning significant contributor at safety, one at corner.
And I think you like you said, you look at
lee Ja Man and wi Is every box check for you.

(33:56):
I mean they have everything. They got their top two
returning sure starting quarterback, three wide receivers, six oh lineman,
four d tackles, three edges, three linebackers for safeties. Just
an insane amount of production coming back, and all those
guys were top contributors. I love yoga and green in
the backfield for them. Matt Spattney off the edge is

(34:17):
one of the more underrated defensive ends. Had eleven and
a half sacks last year. And then Nickett safety as well,
seventy four tackles, four picks last year. Offensive lines should
be improved. And this is a Lehigh team sam that
ranked tenth nationally in defensive yards per play last year
and returns. What was it like sixteen significant contributors from

(34:37):
that defense. I'm really really bullish on Lehigh. I had
them ranked this out of the top twenty. I think
this is a chance for them to make an early
statement in Patriot League play knocking off the new team
on the block, and one saying when the Richmond announced
their moving to the Patriot League, everyone just kind of
assumed Richmond was going to run the conference. What a
statement for Lehi this would be.

Speaker 1 (34:58):
Yeah, this is a fascinating game to and the Patriot
League is going to be interesting as well, because I
do think they are on their way to being a
multi bid league once Villanova and William and Mary join
next season. I don't know if there'll be a two
bid league this year. I think a lot of that
could depend on how this game unfolds. If it's a

(35:20):
competitive game, and Lehigh and Richmond then both go on
to have good records and being playoff teams last year,
that could help get the Patriot League multiple bids in
the postseason this year. I also think Holy Crows could
be pretty decent. I think they could push to be
at the top of this conference, to be at the
top of the conference standings. I'm by no means saying
this is going to be a three bid league, but
I do think it's going to be a healthy race

(35:42):
at the top, and this is going to give us
a glimpse of the two preseason top two teams in
the Patriot League. Lehigh did get most of the first
place votes in the preseason poll. Lehigh did, but Richmond
got a few first place votes, which again I think
is interesting because you can just look at last year's
playoff game, who Risman loses, who Lehigh has coming back?

(36:04):
You know, I think on paper, you definitely have to
favorite lee High in this one, especially with it being
at home. But Rismand can certainly make a huge impact
here with their debut game in the Patriot League.

Speaker 3 (36:16):
Yeah, I'll be curious if there are a two bid league.
I also wonder how big of a role maybe holy
Cross plays in that, yep, because holy Cross had like
a sneaky good year last year and really wasn't mentioned
a lot, and that they've returned a good bit. They
got to figure out quarterback. But that's a team that
I think if if holy Cross does well not out
of conference play, Richmond Lehigh also kind of make a

(36:37):
runn you got that top three pretty strong. I think
that day could be very interesting. And then maybe I
think I still think you would need a pretty good
year out of like one of the middle teams like
I look at like the Buttonnails, the Lafayettes, the Fordham's,
like one of those teams probably needs to improve a
pretty good bid and at least the middle of the road.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
I'm thinking like six.

Speaker 3 (36:55):
Ish wins and then you got a really good top
of the conference, and you can make that argument. You
probably also need some helps where like the SoCon has
a weird year where they get one bid, or the
Big or the OVC Big South falls off, or even
the CAIA gets punished for losing some teams like that
would help the Patrio Lee. They're probably gonna need some
help to get two teams in this year, but I
do agree they'll probably be a two bill league moving forward.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
Next game here, we're gonna touch on number fifteen Sacramento
State going to number three South Dakota State. Just an
absolutely fascinating matchup here, and very curious about both of
these teams. How everything gels for Sacramento States, how this
somewhat new look South Kota State team, how they look.

(37:37):
And the reason I say somewhat is obviously they lost
a huge senior class, an impactful senior class, lost double
digit transfers to the FBS, most of them going to
Washington State, which is where the entire coaching staff went to.
But there still is a lot of familiar names for
South Dakota State, whether it's on the offensive or defensive line.
You know, the wide receivers, a lot of those guys

(37:57):
have been in the system for a while. Same thing
with lying backer. So it's not a completely new look
South Dakota State roster. But when you look at the
too deep, you know a lot of new names on that.
Then Sacramento State very much a new look team there,
whether it be offensively defensively. The offensive line for the
Hornets will look I believe they have three guys coming

(38:18):
back from last year's unit, but just a fascinating matchup
to me, and it would not surprise me if the
Hornets jump up to a fourteen to three, ten to
nothing lead early in this one, and you know it's
setting Twitter, you know all blaze, everyone's freaking out talking
about sax State, and then South Kota State will make
its defensive adjustments and I do think the Jacks have

(38:39):
the edge certainly in the trenches because I think South
Kota State is going to have one of the better
offensive line offensive lines and defensive lines in the FCS.
But how they defend this go go offense is going
to be fascinating because it is tricky to defend. It's
a it's an up tempo shotgun elements of triple option,
but they'll also throw it over top. You know. One

(39:00):
of my favorite formations to see is you have the
quarterback and shotgun a running back to the right of
the quarterback and then another running back to the right
you know of the running back, and so typically, you know,
sometimes you'll see two running backs on both sides of
the quarterback and shotgun there. But with this formation, they
can do so many different things, and you have to

(39:20):
be gap a sounding for the defensive line. You have
to know your assignments. You know, if you're a linebacker,
then you know defensively, you know, in the defensive secondary
there you can't get caught, you know, creeping into it
with your eyes, creeping into the backfield because that's when
they take the shot over top. And there's just there's
so much talents on this Sacramento State offense. We'll see

(39:41):
if they did enough to get better on the offense
of the defensive lines. I think that could be the
difference maker here, but just whether it's on paper, you know,
on the field, or just all the off the field
storylines as well with Sacramento States push to go to
the FBS. I mean, this is just one of the
more intriguing Week one matchups I think you've had it
in a while.

Speaker 3 (40:02):
I think you can make an argument that this is
probably I know we have a big one next week
with South Dakota State Montana State, but I still think
this is probably the most intriguing out of conference game
of the year.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
Yeah, this person, I had.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
Next week's South Kota State at Montana State number one,
but I was I was very much considering this one
to be number one, just because of all the storylines
we talked about.

Speaker 3 (40:27):
It's such an interesting stylistic matchup for everything you said,
right with how unique the go go offense is and
with how many new starters that second to third level
of the South Dakota State defense is going to have.
Do we see some growing pains early and if it happens,

(40:47):
is the offense of South Dakota State going to be
equipped to bring them all boy back if they do
get behind early?

Speaker 2 (40:52):
And depending on how much, because I think we both agree.

Speaker 3 (40:56):
The talent of guys like Chase Fan Toll and Joel
Oleman and even the trans for Matt Gory form Sioux
falls like those, all those guys are gonna be good.
You got Bryce Johnson and McShane back, they're all they're
all super talented. But are their growing pains? Do they
make all the correct run fits? How disciplined can they be?
With all the eye candy this offense gives you? Because

(41:16):
you mentioned all the unique formations, what about all the
motions and shifts and everything. You're gonna have to You're
gonna have to keep your eye on it. And in
the secondary you have to replace all four starters. Yea,
And so what happens if they do get a few
deep shots off? How quickly can how quickly can South
Dakota State get a hold of this game? And then

(41:36):
we talked earlier about quarterbacks not always living up to
the height. We saw it this past weekend, right, And
what happens if Chase Mason goes through some growing pains
in his first start? How quickly does this thing shift
in either direction? I'll be very very curious see if
Chase Mason plays this weekend. I still think South Dakota
State is going to run the football over and over

(41:58):
and over. I mean, you're just too talented with Julius Lowridge,
with Chase Mason. And also on top of that too,
they got some solid talented wide receiver, but a lot
of it has been unproven. Graham Goring's back, you got
Ogrosky back, you add in a handful of FPS transfers,
You bring in Landa. Dulaney, who is a four star,
really really talented, highly talented recruit. But and you mentioned,

(42:22):
and you mentioned the offensive line, but I'm very, very
curious to see what sax State can do offensively.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
Man.

Speaker 3 (42:27):
They like you said, they have so much talent, but
it's the question mark is do they have in the
front seven. Did they add enough size and depth to
hang with the South Dakota State team for sixty minutes,
who is literally just going to try to bully you
in the trenches. And that's going to be really the
matchup I look for, because if SAX State can get
some early stops and play tough against the run, I

(42:48):
do like their chances, man, to keep this thing really competitive,
even on the road.

Speaker 1 (42:52):
Yeah, if South Coast State can slow this game down,
obviously that's a gonna be massive in this one. And
I mentioned on the podcast a couple of weeks ago
that Nate Adams for Southcota State wasn't even taking first
team reps. And he's a transfer to the Jacks from
the other Jackson s FA, and he's coming off of
being a two year starter, second team All Southland player

(43:14):
at SFA, and indeed he's not even starting for South
Gota States, which I think goes to show just how
strong South Gota State's offensive line is going to be. Now,
I think Adams is going to play, you know, quite
a bit. I believe he's the backup at both guard positions,
so he's going to be that that swing guy that
that can maybe rotate in and so he's he's gonna
play plenty, you know, as it is, because I do

(43:35):
think he's a very good offensive lineman. But just the
fact that he got beat out for the starting spot
I think does speak volumes about South Goota State's offensive line.
And then you mentioned Chase Mason. I mean, this is
just incredibly intriguing to see how well he plays because
he's getting a lot of local and regional hype. You know,
South Gota State media is definitely you know, hyping him up.

(43:58):
You know, Dan Jackson, you know, said that Chase Mason
is the best quarterback that that he's seen, that that
that he's had, which is saying a lot considering how
many good quarterbacks he's been around. Now, he said that
to sound at practice, then that person said it on
the podcast, and so I don't know if that was
necessarily supposed to be a public comment, but Dan Jackson
has no doubt hype Chase Mason up. But it's even

(44:18):
gone national now. The East West Shrine Bowl they put
him on their top you know, top watch list, and
then the athletic Dane Brugler put put Chase Mason as
you know, one of the top senior quarterbacks as far
as NFL draft prospects next year. And that's without seeing him,
you know, taking starting reps. And so obviously they've seen

(44:38):
enough on on game film and his limited action. But
I'm guessing there's also been some scouts at practice as
well that I've seen what he can do. Now again
kind of going back to what I said earlier, I mean,
Richard Torres is also you know, a very talented quarterback.
But when it comes to recognizing pressures and taking care
of the ball and knowing where to go with the
ball if the defense has given you one look and

(44:59):
then they roll into a different coverage. Like those are
all small things that we don't know how any of
these new starting quarterbacks are going to handle until those
live bullets are flying. So I do think Chase Mason
might be as he might be the most physically gifted
quarterback in the FCS, and he might be the best
quarterback in the FCS, But until we see it, we

(45:21):
just don't know. And so that is just another fascinating
angle to this game to see how well he plays.
And yeah, he has a cannon of an arm. I
think FCS fans that haven't seen him throw the ball,
it's a bit of a side arm type of delivery.
He does have a basketball or not a basketball, Yeah,
a baseball background. He started his college career playing baseball

(45:41):
at Nebraska, so a bit of an unorthodox throwing motion.
But he does have great zip on the ball, and
just seeing how well he performs here is going to
be super intriguing.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
And same for the other side, Right, how about Jayden Rashada,
I mean.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
Is he for sure the I assumed he was a
starting quarterback, but I don't know if he for sure
is the guy. It sounds like he's maybe had a
little bit of struggles and practice. And then Cardil Williams
is you know he started He's from Tulsa, Am I
remembering correctly?

Speaker 2 (46:11):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (46:12):
Also, yeah, man, he started some games there. So I
don't know if Rashata is for sure the starting quarterback.
I would assume so, but you know, maybe there's a
push there from the other quarterback too.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
Yeah. I would be very curious because, I mean, Jaden
Rashad has got a lot of hype. If he lives
up to his.

Speaker 3 (46:30):
Like his building coming out of high school, man, I mean,
how good could this offense really be? And like you mentioned,
Cardiale Williams has the athleticism that has really excelled in
this offense over the years. A very dual threat guy experience,
has pretty good size at six to almost two hundred pounds,
was a highly tied A three star. You mentioned he
started some games at Tulsa. So either quarterbacks can be interesting.

(46:52):
And I really do think you talk about Chase Mason
almost spend too much time on it. But if he
lives up to the hype that I've been hearing out
of Brookings. I think, I really do think South Dakota
State could make a statement this weekend because if he
clicks and plays up to that All of American All Conference,
even like Walter Payton level man, this offense just goes
from potentially really really good to elite and it changes

(47:15):
the trajectory of this program.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
Yeah, I think South Gota State fields they're going to
be much better at wide receiver than maybe people think
from the outside. But again, until we see it, you know,
we just we just don't know for sure. So a
lot of a lot of answers will get when it
comes to both of these teams this upcoming weekend. A
few more games we won't, you know, dive into a
whole lot because we're at about fifty minutes, but just

(47:38):
some some games that I circled as very intriguing. When
it comes to FCS versus FCS, Campbell going to number
nine Rhode Island, I mean, I like Rhode Island as
a top ten team, but we've seen Campbell play spoiler before,
so that could be an interesting one. Eastern Washington going
to number five uiw You know again, UIW is still

(47:58):
technically the number five team in the If UIW falls
to zero to two, I mean, man, this this is
a whole different discussion next week as well. And if
their offense struggles to get going against Eastern Washington's defense,
which historically has not been very good, then this is
our conversation gets scramped up again next week about UIW.
And then another one as well, Idaho State going to

(48:20):
Southern Utah. I think this is a very underrated matchup
with what Idaho State did last week this last weekend
against UNLV and then Southern Utah, like always right there
in that playoff mix in recent years, just hasn't gotten
over that hurdle. If they could get a win this weekend,
you know, it's not a huge, like great win on

(48:41):
their playoff resume, but I do think it would be
a very helpful win on their playoff resume as well.
So those are three games as far as FCS versus
FCS that that I'm curious about.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
Yeah, I'll throw one all their three out there as well.
Talentsend at Norfolk State on Thursday night, August twenty eighth,
Man Michael Vick's debut. You have Townsend who's kind of
been slowly trending upwards right. I think last year, if
they closed the season a little bit better, they could
have been right there on the playoff bubble. Very very
curious to see they'll take the next step, have a

(49:11):
lot of returning talent, and I think Michael Vick's gonna
drive a lot of interest in that game, especially being
at home on a Thursday night on ESPN U and
Prime Tom. Another one that I'm looking at is New
Hampshire at North Carolina Central. I think this is a
chance for the we talked about out of conference twins
for the MIAC. North Carolina Central looked really really good

(49:33):
last week and week zero, we're gonna really find out
if they're that good or if it was just Southern
not playing very well. If they have a dominant win
over New Hampshire, Sam I got a feel, and we're
going to see them on a lot of top twenty
five ballots come next week. We had two and zero
with two dominant wins over Southern, who was voted preseason
favorite in the Swack West, and New Hampshire, who's been

(49:53):
a pretty respectable CIA opponent. BE very very curious about that.
When you took my third one, so to pivot because
I am very, very interested in that Idaho State Southern
Utah game. I think that game is super intriguing for
all the reasons you laid out, But I'm gonna go
all underrated one. I'm gonna go Gardner Web Western Carolina
five pm Central on Saturday. This is a chance for

(50:16):
Tron Dickens at Western Carolina offense to really show that
they deserved all the previouses and height they got, and
I really think that could be a statement. I think
Gardner Webs have kind of a sneaky matchup. They had
a little bit less turnover than they had going into
last year, and I think that Gardner Web team might
be a little bit more of an interesting matchup than

(50:36):
some Western Carolina fans are given the credit for. It's
a chance for Kerwin Bell in the Catamounts to make
a statement week one and say that we're here to
really make a push for the SoCon after being really
one or two games out of that top spot the
past two years.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
Yeah. A few FCS versus FBS games that I have
circled careous about. Number sixteen, Aveline Christian going to Tulsa
by Hapling recently names Stone Earl their starting quarterback, which
I think was probably expected. He actually started at ACU
as a freshman in twenty twenty one before spending the
last three years at the FBS level. He's come back

(51:13):
to Ablaine Christian after Maverick mckiver transferred to Western Kentucky
and through for a million yards last weekend. But I
think they'll get good quarterback play out of Stone Earl.
A lot of question marks though for Ablin Christian when
it comes to their I mean really everywhere else wide receiver,
running back, and offensive line question marks for Ablin Christian,

(51:34):
but you expect them to have really great playmakers at
the skill position. Defensively, a ton of talent coming back
for Ablin Christian. I'll be curious to see if they
can take that next step because it's not like they
were a super strong defense last year. So that is
one I'm curious about. Another one is well, Idaho going
to Washington State, you know, a regional rivalry to a

(51:57):
certain extent right there. Idaho I think is going to
continue to get better. On the offensive line. I think
the Vandals will be great in the running back room,
quarterback play They're very very high on Joshua Woods. It
seems like he has a chance to be very good.
And then on the flip side, Washington State, I mean,
they have former South Kota State players littered all over
there too. Deep Obviously the entire South Kota States coaching

(52:21):
staff is now at Washington State from from last year
and just curious to see how good this Washington State
team is. And it doesn't sound like they've really settled
on their quarterback spot a whole lot. And it sounds
like there's been a decent amount of scuffles during fall
fall fall camp preseason camp at Washington State, which is

(52:42):
usually normal. You know it from from one of the
beat writers, Greg Woods, I believe his name is, it
sounds like maybe it's been a little more than what
you'd usually see at Washington State. So definitely a very
competitive preseason camp there, with guys either trying to hold
onto their spots or come in and earn starting spot.
So just that's actually probably the one I'm most curious about,

(53:04):
is to see what type of game Idaho can make
it when they go to Washington State.

Speaker 3 (53:08):
I have a feeling you're going to see a little
bit more presence of vandal fans and Brookings Saturday night.
I got a weird feeling about that, Sam, But no,
I think that's a super interesting game. I really love
the Tarlton Army matchup on Friday night too. I know
that Army historically has not slipped up in those games especially.

(53:30):
I mean, they've been dominating their FCS games for the
most part. But I think this cure because they lose
their heisman candidate quarterback. They always listen the Service academies
always have weird, a weird spot in this age of
college athletics. Charlton looked so good last week. The defense
is so deep. I have a sneaky feeling man, Tarlton

(53:50):
is gonna make a statement on Friday night. You mentioned
the Apple and Christian Tulsa game. I want to say
that point spread is pretty close to like applein Christian
is kind of a popular pick there. An underrated one
might be Alabama State UAB just because of all the
turmoil at UAB with Dilfer and that staff. They've been
really bad recently, and I think Bama State they named

(54:12):
Andrew Body at the start of today. If that defense
can live up to the hype, that could be a.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
Really really sneaky one.

Speaker 3 (54:17):
And then I also like Southeastern Louisiana Louisiana Tech. That
could be an interesting game. I like Southeast and Louisa
Louisiana's defense if they can figure out quarterback. I think
Southeast and Louisiana could keep that one close. And you
never know what can happen in these FPSFCS games if
he gets close in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 1 (54:34):
Yeah, yeah, I did have Tarleton State at Army somewhere
in my top eight, I want to say, as far
as most likely FCS over APBS wins. So that is
a that'll be another intriguing one, a bit of a
quick turnaround for Tarleton State, you know, playing on Saturday
and then having to play again on Friday. But you know,
at the same time, you know, having that one game
under their belts potentially could be helpful there. So that

(54:56):
is another one to keep an eye on. So will
wrap it up there, Zach, any final awards before we
do so nothing.

Speaker 3 (55:04):
I'm excited for the weekend and I can't wait. Everyone
got to laugh and overreact to Week zero. Now it's
time for their teams and I can't wait to see
the overreactions.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
On social media. Man, my favorite thing to look at
on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (55:16):
Yeah, you gotta love fcs you know online, you know crowd,
the folks that are really you know, engaged with things,
with things nationally. It's it's what makes it fun. And
I'd rather, I'd rather read overreactions and laugh at them
rather than hear crickets out there. And and no one's
talking about it. So we'll see what, if anything wild
or wacky happens this up upcoming weekend and we'll be
sure to recap it next week on the podcast. And

(55:39):
until then, thank you everyone for listening, and we'll catch
you guys on the flippity flip.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
Pora. Poor Pa