Latest / The Mike Blitz Show / Power Plays and Game Changers: A Deep Dive into College Football Season Kick-off (Week 0 Review & Week 1 Preview)

Transcript

Power Plays and Game Changers: A Deep Dive into College Football Season Kick-off (Week 0 Review & Week 1 Preview) · The Mike Blitz Show

• 0:16
  Speaker 1: LSU in Tennessee are playing this week.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: They're playing actual football this week, yes week one baby.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Mike Blitz.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, mike Wade, my co-host over there, mike White.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: What's up, brother?
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: How you feeling, man?
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: I am pumped Every day.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Every second that we get closer to Thursday nights, the official start of college football gets me more and more excited.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: There's this weird time of year where you're like, literally it feels like an accomplishment just getting 24 hours.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: We're so starred for football, we're so starved to see action that we actually care about, like I.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Just every day I'm like, well, today's only three days.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: If you think about it right now, it's only 72 hours from watching the first LSU game or whatever the hell it is.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: So like, no, it is.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: We are there.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: We are on the precipice of the greatest time of the year, so that's super exciting.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: We have lots to talk about.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: But let's get to business really quick.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: During anything delicious, today I'm drinking a orange vanilla waterloo Very nice.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Oh, very classy.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: No, I'm sipping on coffee.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: I'm highly caffeinated.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Today it's been a rough sleep week for us as you know.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: So I'm just pumping the caffeine in full effect.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: I don't hate that.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, anders and I were up between 1230 and 130 just bouncing.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: You know he was it's been eight o'clock usually does, and then at 1230, he won a party for an hour and a half.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: So it's what we did, so that was very cool.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: So I'm also pretty tired, but the adrenaline of seeing you doing his podcast drinking my delicious waterloo has got me persevering.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: So that's good stuff.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: I hope that the audience can hear the excitement in our voices.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: This is a genuine enthusiasm for something that is happening so soon.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: It's true, yeah.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I hope so.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I hope you rise well, so very quickly.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Usually what we're going to do is we're trying to break into two shows, but for this week, since week zero was so thin, we're going to try and lump them in.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: We're going to do a quick week zero rehash, we're going to talk about the things we like about week one and then we're going to get out of here.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: So let's just start with really quickly, about week zero, I'm going to jump right into the headliner.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Obviously, the USC offense is going to get a ton of love.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Caleb Williams, with the Caleb Williams, those out, those playmakers on the outside, zachariah Branch, dorian Singer, mario Williams those guys are dudes.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: The defense is everybody's bad, as we thought it was going to be, which is red flag.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: What you haven't heard yet, what I want to, what stood out to me was how bad that offensive line was.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Why is you for the USC's offensive line so bad?
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: I don't know, and that could be something that they're just working out.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: You know they're working through the rotation.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Zachariah Branch was one that really stood out to me.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's a true freshman, he's.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: He looked immediately ready to make a big impact on the college football stage.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: The hot takes on the internet, on Twitter right now, or Zee, whatever we're calling it these days, is like the Reggie Bush to Zachariah Branch.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah for that.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: I don't like that.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: I don't like it either, but I also don't hate it because he's he's a classic guy.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: We're just like you can't like coach that stuff like his ability to start and stop and change directions.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he's going to be between him and Caleb Williams.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: They're going to be doing, they're going to make a lot of people on defense look really, really silly.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: So that's going to be, in itself, really fun to watch.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: So that was great.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Anything else in the USC game?
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: No, it went about as as I expected.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: I think San Jose State does have a decent offense, so I'm not putting a whole lot of stock in in the USC defensive performance.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: I think that they were playing with a lot.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: You know they had a lot of cushion and so why not play with some combinations?
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Get some guys out there, and that's kind of how I feel.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I didn't pay super close attention to their online play, like maybe you did.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, when you know you're going to just steamroll an opponent, you don't have to worry about all that stuff.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like everything we're going to say to bajillion times like week zero and week one are weird.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: There are things that happen week one, weeks that the folks need to get polished out, even week two and week three.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: So I'm not going to sink USC, but another year of an Alex Grinch defense.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: That just doesn't look good.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: And it's got talent.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: It's got guys like Barry Alexander or other players out there.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: So I'm I think we're all we know what to spend on the offense.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: The question is what we're going to do the defense.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: I'm going to look what Georgia wrote, real, real, just real.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Quickly, just to remind everyone what Georgia did last year, I mean every each week we were talking about.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: You know what does the real Georgia look like, and when you know that it doesn't take your A game to win, you might not see that A game until later in the season.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true, especially level of competition.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: You always hear coaches talk about not not playing all their cards, saving wrinkles for other teams.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I think there's certainly some truth to that and that's a fair.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: That's a fair criticism.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: We will find out about me.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Usc's got a loaded schedule, so we're going to have plenty of chances to find out what those guys can do.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Moving on to the other big game Notre Dame Navy.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Sam Hartman my boy looks awesome.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Just annihilated Navy.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Every aspect.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: They're bigger, stronger.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: You know I think a lot of talk is going to be talking about Sam Hartman, for good reason.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: That offensive line is brutal.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Those guys are good.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Joe Alton's first round or left tackle Notre Dame might be on something.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: And or Navy is just truly a future team.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: You're one new coach.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: I don't really know.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is one that I am actually having more of a reaction to, because we've seen high level teams play with their food a little bit and that next level up doesn't do that, they just destroy, and that's what Notre Dame did.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: That Notre Dame Navy game came down to the wire last year and this year it was the Sam Hartman show.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Their offense looked really good.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: There was no messing around Even to start the game before they really let him go.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: They were just pounding the ball and getting six, seven, eight, nine, 10 yards a clip and, yeah, notre Dame looking really good and that could have been an easy kind of sleepwalk game.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: You know it's in Ireland.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: It's weird, it's starting the season before everyone else.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of reasons that game.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: They could have looked a little sloppy and they did not.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah no, they looked like they were in midseason clip.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: But again, all of that is just Navy being so, so bad.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: I want to take my first chance to throw some cold water on some things.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: So obviously two of the most historic programs college football, notre Dame and USC were on full on everyone's attention week zero.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Those two guys are going to get a ton of Heisman love right away.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Let's remember it's week zero.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: It's a little weird.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: Let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Pump the brakes on that.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Let's see those guys getting some real competition.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: But you're going to hear a lot of that real soon.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: I can already feel it coming.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: You're putting the brakes, I'm hitting the gas.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: You're going to gas will be in Atlanta.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: We'll see.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: We will see.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: New York.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Sorry, New York for the Heisman.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Yes, right.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: Before I do that, I have your first ever trivia question.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: That's the dating game.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: I thought Kamala couldn't find a trivia show, but anyway.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Trivia question brought to you by triviathrowdowncom.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Mike, there are four teams that have seven Heisman winners.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: There's a four way tie.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Two of them are the two teams we saw this past weekend USC and Notre Dame.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Well, those are the easy ones.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Those are exactly what I was going to go to.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Exactly?
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Can you tell me the other two?
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: I'll give you three guesses.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I get two, you get to get to get the other two.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: Are we going to waste audience time with me sitting here thinking on this?
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: They're playing too, all right, so say that one more time for me.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Four teams with seven Heisman winners.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Two of them are USC and Notre Dame.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Who are the other two?
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Alabama.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: Nope, yeah, they got one more shot Um.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Do Nebraska Nope, oklahoma and Ohio State.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Oklahoma, ohio State, usc and other name are tied with seven Heisman trophies.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: I bet you that time gets broken this year.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: We'll see what happens Moving on, just from a betting standpoint unders and dogs, eight and four.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: This is something that happens in the beginning of of of college football season.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: If you're betting on college football, especially week one, expect more of that.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: There's gonna be a lot of unders.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: The new, especially the new rule change those you know.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: You know the smart people on Twitter are talking about totals coming down 5% roughly.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: And dogs People are always underselling progress teams have made.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: So if you're betting if you're betting on college football week one or NFL week one for that matter and you're like I don't really know what I want to do, you can't go wrong with the under and taking the dog.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: That's hard to do and not as fun, but it's a really, really good play.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: So that's one of the people that want to pass that on.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Shout out.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Speaking of dogs, umass getting their first win this year.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: They were 111 worst team in FBS, mike.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Their next week they are plus 38 at Auburn, I think like.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: UMass in the points, Making me look like a chump for picking against them.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we both did.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's that's not a bad play.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: That's a lot of points for a brand new.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: You know, Auburn squad and UMass having a game under their belt.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: I don't hate that.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: I don't hate that at all.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Last thing on week zero for move on Vandy again playing with their food.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: They were winning by 21.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: The fourth core ended up winning by seven against Hawaii in half a stadium with construction being built whatnot?
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Vanderbilt is the worst team in the SEC.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: I think we have a great agree on that.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: I still think they're pretty good.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: I think they're okay.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: I think they go seven and five in the ACC.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Is that a hot take?
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: I don't.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: That's a decent take.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: I think we didn't talk about.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: You know, as we're talking through kind of betting strategy, I really like taking the over on them.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: They're not terrible as far as the their win over under wins I think it was three and a half.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Maybe I took the over.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: I took that, yeah, I would take that for sure.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: And well, now you know, now you can't really because, but yeah, I would have taken that for sure.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: I don't hate I mean I don't also hate them to score points or some betting stand, but I don't just told you to bet the under.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: But, like, aj Swan is a pretty good quarterback, will Sheppard is a stud receiver and they've got another guy who can, who can play a little bit.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Well, vandy might be able to put together some offense this year and they'll probably sneak up and bite somebody.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's going to be Georgia or Tennessee, but I think it could tuck your Florida.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure who they get in the West this year.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Like there's, I wouldn't be shocked at all to see Vandy get one, if not two, sec wins in 2023.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: That's kind of my take after watching play football.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah last week.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Cool, all right, let's go ahead.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: And that's going to wrap Any else on week zero, let's go to week one.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Let's go to week one.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Week one I'm in it.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: We're in it.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: So week one real college football is happening again this week with a whole lot more, a whole full slate of 50s, some odd games.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Really good slate for a week one.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: Really good slate.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: We already talked about betting the unders and betting the dogs just as a betting strategy.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: That's true for week one, so I'm going to move on from there.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: First game I want to talk about is the Thursday night game, the headliner Florida at Utah.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: What I am personally looking for in this game is who is playing for Utah.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Just a little background.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: The line opened up at like minus eight, mike, and I bet it at that point.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Whoops, it moved all the way down to like minus four.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: A bunch of money came out of Florida.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: It's moved back to minus seven and a half, something like that, brett.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Keith, their stud tight end and camera rising.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Nobody knows if they are going to play, but Vegas seems like they know something, so I am watching this game from a.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Is Utah's six year stud quarterback and their best playmaker going to play?
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Are they out there?
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: What do they look like?
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the major headline, and not only is camera rising health in question, but their backup quarterback is also banged up.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: And so, yeah, you see that line hovering around six and a half.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, these are the back to back pack 12 champs against a complete question mark Florida team, and they're playing at home.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, up in Utah, up in the Alps I don't think it's Colorado Alps too, but it's up there.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: You know Floridians are not, this is actually used to life in Utah, so I think that's, I think it's a tough game to travel to, for sure.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: They still have really good line play.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: They're still gonna have great defense.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Whittingham, the coach of Utah, has coached a lot of really good teams back to back, pack 12 champs and says that this might be his best.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: So I don't know that I'm buying into all this.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: You know it's camera rising or kind of a toss up mentality I think Florida is.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: You know they're always talented, they've recruited well.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: I just don't like the way this stacks up for them.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: It's kind of a revenge game.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: The way that game ended last year with Florida edging them out on that interception.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah you really do want that one too.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: Utah to look really good and come out and make a statement.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: This game.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I still like Utah on that spot.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: I don't like what the line did to us when we locked that one in as a Mike Blitz special, but I think Ryu and I are gonna be okay just holding the line.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Very cool.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Move on next.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Unc at USC Southern South Carolina.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: This game is neutral site.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: It's playing played in Charlotte, the Panthers Stadium.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: For me, I'm watching this game because I think these are two bad teams.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: I think South Carolina UNC are bad teams with two NFL quarterbacks.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: I think we're gonna be watching this game on ESPN Sports Center for the seven or eight massive big plays broken coverage, adr touchdowns that we're gonna see.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Looking back.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're right to expect a lot of big plays and a lot of points.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Unc we've talked a lot about North Carolina's atrocious defense.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: They were like 126th in the FPS last year.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: I do think South Carolina has more of a complete team as far as parts around them.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: Drake May, quarterback for North Carolina, lost his top two wide receivers.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: They did replace them with a couple transfers one from Georgia Tech, one from Kent State.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: They've got a solid tie in room.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: There are enough pieces there to still put up points.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: But I think when it comes down to like offensive line play, secondary special teams, things like that I like South Carolina as more of a complete unit.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: I think they win a really fun toss up high scoring, you know dramatic game.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: It's gonna be a lot of fun.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Both of those quarterbacks are capable of playing, obviously, at an extremely high level.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that game is not gonna have a lot to do with the national picture, which of course we'll come into focus.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: But it's week zero, it's week one, so there's zero and zero, so everybody's hopes of being national championships are still on the table.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's total coin flip.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: I think it'll be a fun watch for sure.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Next I got Nebraska at Minnesota.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: I circled this game another Thursday night game because my hot take, my super bull prediction, was that Nebraska's gonna win the West and, mike, you might be dunking on me in four days when Nebraska gets smoked here and they've already lost the conference game against Minnesota.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: The line is seven points.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Matt Rule brought in a bunch of transfers.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: The Jeff Sims, the quarterback from Georgia Tech, is now under center.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: I wanna see Minnesota with PJ Fleck is probably the better prepared team, but I wanna see how well Matt Rule has done to prepare Nebraska for this in six months.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: No, I think this is a really interesting game because it is one of those games that does have conference implications and bigger picture implications.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Both of these teams are very well coached and could cause problems for some of the bigger players this year.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: I don't think either of these teams are looking at like a New Year's Six Bowl game or something, but could definitely help shake out the way that the season's played from a bigger picture, especially when you've got teams that are very well coached.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: They're both solid so it'll be interesting to see, kind of, if one of these teams looks light years ahead of the other.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Nebraska brought in Tony White, who's coordinator, who's done well in every one of his previous stops.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: So I think the coaching I think on the sidelines Nebraska has improved as well.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: I really wanted Scott Frost to work out, so I'm still just like hopelessly clinging my hopes on that rule now I think college football is better.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: So part of this is me just willing Nebraska to be better.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I did that same thing.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: Scott Frost was out the door.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: I was like there's still a chance, there's still a chance.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: There's a chance to the Dumb and Dumber meme.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Let's keep it moving.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Colorado at TCU minus 21.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: I don't have a lot to say about this game other than Deon Sanders Promo has been on my TV constantly.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: 21 points is a ton of points.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Maybe we'll see some.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Give me your Deon, give me your Colorado.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Tcu week one takes.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: Well, I think, on paper, these teams are not competitive.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: Tcu is coming off of a college football playoff appearance.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: Colorado is coming off of a terrible, terrible what.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: Two win season yeah, one win season, 10 wins a run yeah.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: So I think what you're looking for is to see some competitive spark, to see maybe some flashes and really just to see what the product Deon's putting on the field yeah.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: I think one of the funny things is, like God forbid this, I'm not God for fashion to say this what happens if Deon loses by like three or seven?
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: Or what if they win?
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: What we've seen here this year is this 50 person turnover.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: There is a chance.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: This is like total conspiracy, wrapping my head in tin foil here.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: If this works out, if this works out, are we?
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: We could, let's say, deon wins, seven wins this year, which is definitely not going to happen, but like are we?
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Is there any universe where that becomes the norm?
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Just flipping whole schools, like you know, like as Deon, creating proof of concept of just crazy scheme of just kicking everybody out and bring everybody else in?
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: I mean Lincoln Riley kind of just did that True true, nobody think numbers of Colorado, but yes, yeah, it takes a specific circumstance and a specific type of person to do that.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: You know you're not going to see that at any given program year to year.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: Deon, deon is Deon and that's all the eyeballs and all of the talent he's attracted because of his background and where he came from and his branding.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: It's a unique scenario but to some degree, you know, that's a little bit of what college football is now.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: I don't think you can see you can really sustain success doing that year over year.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean you might see one or two major roster flips here on out, you know, every year yeah, Two things I'm looking for specifically in that game.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: Chandler Morris is the quarterback who was supposed to be the guy at TCU last year.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: He got hurt.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Max Duggan took on.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: We all know how that ended with an eventual national championship runner up.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: So Chandler Morris is.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: He's waiting the wings.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: He's solid quarterback.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: He's pretty good.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: I think he's going to do well.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Travis Hunter is one of the most.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: He was a number two overall recruit 2021, I believe.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: What with Deon to Jackson State came with him.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: He's electric, so I think seeing him getting the ball a couple of times would be fun.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: I think we're going to find out pretty quickly which one of the Mike's Colorado Buffs takes is right and how good or bad they are in the trenches.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: If it's, it could be bad and it could be okay.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: If it's serviceable, colorado probably has enough Playmakers and skill guys to make some things happen, but if they're, if they got their defensive lines getting blown off the ball six yards.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: If they're giving up eight sacks a game, it's going to be ugly in.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: Boulder yeah, you can outcoach some guys with some, some you know some teams with some flashy players and you know some comparable talent teams.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: But you know when you go up against teams that have it in the trenches and they can just bully you.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Moving on to the next one on my list, I got Clemson at Duke.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: This is the Monday night game.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: This is the best part about week one.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: We've got games literally Thursday, friday, saturday, sunday, monday five days of college football and honestly, I think we're kind of sleeping, sleeping on the Clemson Duke games.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Duke is plus 13, which means they're two touchdown dogs.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: This is Mike Elko's second year, or second or third year.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: He had brought their program back from terrible in 2021 to eight and four this past year.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: They have some playmakers on the secondary Well, defensive line and they've got Riley Leonard, who's a pretty darn good quarterback.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: This game is at Duke.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: This is in the Wallace Wade Stadium.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Mike Hornets is my question for you Is the Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, north Carolina, the Hornets Nest of 2023?
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: Oh man, I knew it was coming.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: I don't think so, man.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry to say it.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think Clemson is just downright excellent just about every position.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: They might be really really great.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Kate Clubnick is good, but if he's not, if he sputters, if they, if there's some weak oney things, pay attention to that Clemson Duke game, duke might stick around.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: I like him to cover.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: I don't think they're going to win, but if God, if for some half Mike Elko pulls off the upset, one, I'm going to tell I'm going to preach the heavens that I called it.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Even I didn't really.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: And two, the Mike Elko hype train is so yeah, for me.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: I'm just really looking.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: I want to see how Clubnick looks at quarterback.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: We got to see a glimpse of him last year.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: He's so highly touted.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: There was so much hype around him and we know we know the struggles that Tennessee's secondary specifically had at times last year and he just couldn't get anything going.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: Really, in the orange bowl game he made a lot of bad mistakes.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: He was really susceptible to pressure and so, yeah, I want to see if he's grown since then and what he looks like.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah very nice, I think I got a good call.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: That's all I got for the non-hometime games.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Any other game that you want to bring up before we jump into the?
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: four homers.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: No, no, I think let's let's keep it rolling.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: I think these are kind of the meat of the the weekend.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: After you talk about UNC and USC and and the Florida Utah, those are the two of the biggest games, and then obviously LSE, Florida State.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so let's go ahead.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're going to talk to the homers.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: This is the portion of the show If those are new listeners.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: We talk about the four teams that we pay extra attention to.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: I'm the LSU fan, mike the Tennessee fan, of course, uva, virginia Tech so many of our listeners are from from us here in the Commonwealth, so we have adopted them into the Mike Blitz family, so we're talking about them for the show.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and start with LSU Florida State, which I think is the highlight of week one.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: It's definitely it's the only top 10 matchup.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: The spread is two and a half points.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: It's got a lot of NFL star players on both sides of the ball.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: There's a lot.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you've all seen lots of commercials already for that game.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: For me, obviously, being an LSU fan looking for, I'm looking for two things.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: One, I'm seeing if Jane Daniels has taken that next step.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: He was very good in year one.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: He exceeded anyone's reasonable expectations.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: But I think everybody in Baton Rouge and around the SEC and College of Football World thinks he kind of has a next year and the question is, can he get there?
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: And this against Florida State, which is a formidable defensive unit, will test him.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Can he do that?
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: And the second thing that I want to see is our secondary LSU secondary pretty much all graduated and they're being being rebuilt.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Jordan Travis is a good quarterback and they will be tested so right out of the gate.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: I want to see what LSU secondary looks like.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: So those are two things for me.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: What about you?
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the secondary has been the big question mark for LSU this offseason, but and they will have some guys emerge how quickly will that happen Exactly?
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing that they have going for them in their favor early in a game like this is their front seven.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: Specifically, their D line is so good, and so they're going to be putting the heat on on on Jordan Travis.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: They're going to be making it tough for for Florida State to run the ball.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: He's going to be forced to make some plays with his legs, which he's fully capable of.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Both quarterbacks are, so that's going to be really, really interesting and fun dynamic to watch.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what does that line play for Florida State look like?
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: Can they hold up and can they move the ball on the ground and allow for some some deeper down the field passes?
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: Obviously the X factor that one of the guys has gotten a ton of love after, after an incredible breakout freshman campaigns Harold Perkins, my early candidate for defensive player of the year when is he going to be lining up?
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Brian Kelly, the LSU head coach, this past week said you know, this year last year they kind of simplified for things.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: He didn't have a whole, he didn't have the spring, he came in the summer.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: They pretty much put him out there like a heat sinking missile.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Get out there and rush the quarterback.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: This year they know he's been in the off season.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: He's been.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: He was there for spring ball.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: They're going to line up everywhere.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: So it's going to be fun.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: I'm going to be.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: One of the things I'll be looking at, especially pre snap, is where Harold Perkins lines up, because he is a guy, he is a legitimate playmaker any given time.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: So when you're watching that game, make sure you're watching to see where Harold Perkins lines up.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: So I think that's going to be a lot of fun to see what he can do this year.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah and do they try to do anything to create mismatches on on his side of the ball?
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: You know, maybe use his over aggression against him.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: They've got some good tight ends at Florida State that they brought in the transfer portal and then in a lot of ways this game is a very much for me kind of a mirror matchup.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: Both teams have uber athletic quarterbacks that you're looking to see if they can take the next step and make it happen with their arms a little bit more.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: They've both got explosive skill players.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: They're both deep and talented on the D line Verse obviously for FSU is going to be bringing the heat off the off the edge there, and last year was such a close game it was a coin flip in the end.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: I expect this one to be pretty similar.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this game is being played in Orlando, which is not Tallahassee, but it's reasonable.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: It's reasonable expect to be mostly Florida State fans and it sounds like it looks like all by all indications that Hurricane Adalia that was called Adalia will be well out of the way.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: So ideally, the weather if you're traveling there might be tricky, but whether for game time shouldn't be a problem.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: So that's, that second game we're going to talk about is actually a two fur, because it is two of these four teams playing one another.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: Are you going to make any predictions on that game?
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: On the LSU game yeah, I'm scared man.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: So I think the revenge factor, I think our offensive line being as good as it is, I like LSU to win by six.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: I think it's going to be a thirty one, twenty four type experience and I like LSU to get the win.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Obviously I'm a Homer, I can't bring that, can't get that experience.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: But you know Vegas has his favorite by two and a half points as well.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Going to Orlando, which you know, that tells you that on a neutral site, they, vegas, thinks LSU is five points better.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: That's not the main.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: That doesn't necessarily mean anything, but makes me feel a little better.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: So I like us to win by six.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: What do you think?
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: I like LSU as well.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: I I could see this go, this game going either way, but yeah, I think I like LSU.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: I've got a good feeling about about them, this game.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: I think they they win a tight one, yes we'll take it Moving on.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: we've got Tennessee playing UVA, which wins.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: The last time that happened it's been were we alive 90s.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: Ok, I have the 90s we were played in the Citrus Bowl and sometime in the mid 90s.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: Ok, I'll take that.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: They're playing at Nashville.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Uva is a 28 point dog.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Tennessee is is a coming to come out hot.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: For my notes I got a couple things.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: One, Tony Musket, all name team, first team, for sure.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: You know I watched, I watched all his film at Monmouth.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: He's the Monmouth transfer who's taken over for Brandon Armstrong who left.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: He's got a little bit of wiggle.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: He's kind of poor man's Brandon Armstrong.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: So I, like I'm interested to see kind of what the UVA offense looks like.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: What's their identity?
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: So that's where I am for UVA, Before we jump into Tennessee.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: You got any UVA notes to say out to you?
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this you know.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: Obviously UVA's season was a weird one last year.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: Things were not going well.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: Then they had the tragedy, you know, killings that happened within their team.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: They didn't get to finish the season.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: I expect them to be to come back, you know, ready to play and passionate and ready to compete again.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: But they are replacing a lot.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: You know you mentioned burning Armstrong is gone.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: They're top four wide receivers are gone, they've.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: They were terrible on on offense.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: They were 126th in the FPS last year.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: But there are some bright spots.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: They've got a pretty stout front seven.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they had a couple guys, I think four, five, six, seven sacks in that range.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: So they do have some, some, some heat on the edge.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: So I think, for me what I'm looking for if I'm a UVA fan, I want to see some signs of improvement, some life on offense and on the flip side of that, you know, you want to see how Tennessee's defense looks.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: So that's kind of be that's gonna be the first thing I'm looking for.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: I do expect to see their the UVA D line create a little disruption, yeah, and and maybe hang tough early before maybe being, you know, physically overwhelmed as the game goes on.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: Tennessee is replacing Darnell Wright, who's a first-round line offensive lineman, with transfer essentially, and Cooper Mays, who's the starting center, is likely out for this game.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: So some, some, some moving pieces on the O line and some question marks there should create for a fun early matchup there.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I yeah, that's.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: That's a good assessment.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: I like that too.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Um, for me I think, I guess that the UVA is if.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: If you were, if you were optimistic about last year's coming into.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Last year, you thought UVA's defense was going to be the horrible thing.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: And they weren't.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: They brought the difference coordinator guy from Air Force getting his name at the moment.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: They did pretty well all things considered and I know they've lost some pieces, but they're a well coached defense.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: I think that has a chance to throw some Wrenches in the system for Tennessee.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: So I think that's kind of what you're looking for and they do have a couple options at running back On the offense if they can get any kind of blocking.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Their offensive line was bad last year and they didn't bring a lot back this year, so I'm not particularly bullish on their O line this year, but they do have some options in the backfield, so we'll see about that.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: For Tennessee.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: Um, actually it's funny.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: It's actually like the exact same take I have about LSU.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: The big thing all, all eyes I think it's fair to say and correct me if I'm wrong is what does Joe milk look like he's taking?
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: He's got massive shoes to fill, placing head, and hooker, who was just incredible revelation, had a hell of a season, went on to the NFL.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: He's so good, ken.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: Question number one is Ken, ken, hypo turn do what?
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: Similarly what he did to hooker, what he did to Milton, what do you think?
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not concerned about that, especially this early in the year.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: You know, talk to me about when Milton starts his first game on the road in the swamp Two, three weeks from now.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: I'll be concerned about that.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: I think you'll see a steady dose of the run game, got a really deep and talented running back room with Jalen Wright, jabari Small and then you'll see some some, some of the Deep shots.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: Some of the things that Joe Milton's known for is that cannon arm and that's gonna work out just fine.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: I'm not so worried about how this offense is going to to function or click early.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: I think they'll be alright.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: I'm really interested in the O line and I'm interested in seeing how Tennessee's secondary looks.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: I think that you'll see massive improvement On the D line and in the front seven for Tennessee, which will make an even, an even, an Already struggling UVA offense.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: Struggle, struggle quite a bit more.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's, that's what I'm thinking will happen.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: That's kind of what I was saying in terms of exacting the LSU.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: It's quarterback and then secondary, and I don't I didn't really want to say secondary because I'm just not sure they're gonna be tested this week.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, I expect I expect Tennessee's secondary was probably the weakness of the 2022 Vols the front seven was pretty stout.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: I think a run defense was.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: I think it was a was a real positive revelation In 2022 for the Vols.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: I expect them to be pretty tough in the front seven.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Again, I know they're replacing some pieces, but they've got that, don't?
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: They have an all-star defensive tackle, who's really good.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: They've got some guys, so I'm I'm having them to be great there.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: I'm interested to see, when the Vols do get tested for the first time, what they're sick, because I think obviously that's one of the things that held Tennessee back from being great to being elite.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: And then obviously, quarterback health and that's important stick around.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's, that's fair enough.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: My my final kind of thoughts on this game.
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: If you, if you look you, you want to see some hope.
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: If you're a UVA fan, you don't want to see a start to finish, you know Boat race, you want to see some fight, you know, and to see what they're gonna look like.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: A little bit more of an identity on offense.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: But I still like the Vols to cover the spreads 28.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: I think they could.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: They could name their score if they want.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm, I'm gonna go ahead and make the same prediction.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately, again, I know this is, I hope, I hope big picture.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: Everybody is rooting for UVA this year and Mike and I certainly will be, especially given what they've been through these past 12 months.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: But this team I don't.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: I don't know how they're going to score.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: I think I think I'm fully expecting the Vols to score 40, 42, 45.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: I could let me need with without too much trouble, especially, especially, I expect hypo to run the hurry up, especially the first half.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: I think he's going to, I think he's going to start to get out there and run the thing that one of the things that made Tennessee so deadly was.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: They were so fast, and I think they're gonna.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: I think they're going to start Polishing that early and they're gonna be that.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: You're gonna see some of that on display first half.
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: So I was.
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's their identity, you know, and they're gonna be dialing up how efficiently they can do that.
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: You know that you don't turn that off.
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: That's how they, that's how they play, so they're gonna be getting that ready.
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: It's a run to perfection for for the Gators three weeks from now.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: I'm pulling for UVA all year and you'll hear more all about it all season, but this one I definitely like the balls to cover.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Last game.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: We're talking about ODU at Virginia Tech.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: You know tech is minus 16.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: I think it was last year before Virginia Tech lost this game.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what I'm looking for.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: This is such a theme.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: We're saying the same thing for every game.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: I my brother right now is listening to his roasting before it again the quarterback.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: So great they, so they.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: Last year they had Grant Wells, who's the Marshall transfer.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: I'm for me.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: I'm really hoping they have moved on.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: They got a new kid in there.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: Back of them is Kyron drones.
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: He's a transfer from Baylor.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: He is a big kid, 6 to 230.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: He's a dual threat guy.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: He can do something with his legs.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: He reminds me a lot of a Hinden Hooker.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: Frankly, he reminds me a lot of a poor man's Mike Vic.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: He seems to have a skill set for things that Brent Pry wants to do in the offense, and I know that he's new.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: I know that Grant Wells has the Virginia Tech experience, but what I hope for this week one is that they are going to grow with this kid.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: I hope they are gonna put Kyron Jones under center.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: Let him do something of his legs and let's see what that looks like, because I think we know what the Grant Wells chapter looks like.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they've.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: They've named Grant Wells the starter.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: I had the same thought because I do think drones brings a different element to their offense and Could potentially open it up a little bit.
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: I do really like Bay Shull tooting.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: They're running back.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: He's got some some, some wheels and some wiggle.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: He's very explosive.
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: It's also tough because they're replacing like their entire wide receiver room.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they've got three transfers in one of them from ODU, so there are a lot of a lot of connections here wide receiver coach, former ODU coach as well, so a lot of connections within the program.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you've got to see improvement from Grant Wells.
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: I think you will.
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: But you know what does this ceiling look like?
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: What is you know, versus drones, who maybe is a little more, I guess, raw, but has some some higher upside?
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: sure I'm pretty bearish on Grant Wells.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: I think we've seen.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: I think we've seen it just so I'm hoping.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: I'm hoping this.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: I'm hoping sooner than later, especially since you and I are gonna be in Blacksburg week two for Virginia Tech Purdue.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: I would love to see the Kyron drones experiments under left.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: What do I know?
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: Maybe Grant Wells has turned a corner this off season.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: Maybe he's drill his receivers.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: I know their offensive.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: Another offense has a little bit of a mixed identity little spread slash power, which are two conflicting ideas and don't make any sense.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: So they've gotten better.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: At least that's like in terms of scheme having some clarity.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: So you know I'm gonna do what you're doing.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna be optimistic, glass half full about Grant Wells.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: But in the back of my mind I think this is eventually going to be Kyron Jones team and I think the sooner that it is It'll be, it'll be better for Virginia Tech long-term.
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: I know they are fringe bull team.
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: I think Vegas has their wind souls at five and a half.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: I think Kyron Jones is the guy who can do things with legs to help me get there.
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm 100% with you there, but every year we do see, you know, some, somebody take the step.
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: You know you never want to write these guys off, because all it takes is, you know, an offseason, something to click, and all of a sudden they look like a different player.
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: You know they're still developing, so anything's possible, but I do like their future a little bit better with drones.
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: What do you think about this game specifically?
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: How does it turn out?
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: You know, I think it's a little bit of a revenge factor here.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: I'm going to take the.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: I think Virginia Tech plugged a lot of holes on defense.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: They had a couple.
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: They had a couple of playmakers emerge, there's a linebacker, they really like, a defensive back they really like, and so they've made more sense.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of bearish on ODU at the moment.
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go ahead and take.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of crazy, I think, because there's a lot of points I'm going to take Virginia Tech to cover.
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: I'm going to give them the nod.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: If it was, I think, two and a half touchdowns, I think minus 16 is about, if it was 17 and a half, I think I'd go to ODU.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: So I think I think you're looking at I don't know, a 1735 type game that I think the Hokies in front of the home crowd in a revenge spot.
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: I think they're and they're going to come out hot.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: And Grant Wells is going to be, if you're right, if he's going to be eager as anyone to prove his job.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: Go out and score some touchdowns, man, throw some touchdown passes, hit some open guys.
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: You've got some talent out there because your job depends on it.
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, and then another season in the system and you're coming off of a loss last year against ODU.
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: It's a night game at Lane Stadium.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: I think Virginia Tech looks pretty good and opens the season strong, definite revenge factor.
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: Last year Virginia Tech was winning that game in pretty much every statistical category and ended up finding a way to lose it.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: So I don't think that happens again this year.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: I think they cover and get to work on some things along with that.
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: Nice, very cool.
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: Anything else on any of the games that we missed you want to hit that we didn't cover in your list?
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: So one thing I did want to mention that is not about a specific game, but I want to get your take on this.
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: So for the first time in 17 seasons with the Alabama Crimson Tide, Nick Saban does not release a depth chart.
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: Is are you hitting the panic button if you are looking to know who they're starting quarterback is?
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: If you're a tide fan, how do you feel about this?
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: This is not normal.
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: No, it's one, it's not normal, for sure.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: Two, I don't put a ton of weight into depth charts because I've seen them change a lot.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: Lsu's depth chart changed substantially week one to week four.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: Just to kind of bring it back to my experience.
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: And again, we've talked about, we've talked this whole podcast and last podcast about week one, week zero thing.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: So I don't put a ton of stock in that.
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: What I do put a lot of stock in is the fact that they saw, they knew what they had with Miller O and Ty Simpson and they brought in Tyler Buckner.
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: Yes, like that to me is the reddest of flags, of red flags.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: One Tyler Beckers wasn't that great at Notre Dame and he wasn't.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: He was not Sam Hartman who they tried to get.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: Alabama tried to real Sam Hartman and didn't you imagine God?
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: that would have not been.
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: I want to think about it.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is not so luckily that.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: Luckily for LSU and and Volfans that did not work out.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: But they brought another quarterback and, like you know, when LSU didn't like what they saw with their guys, they went out and got Joe Burrow and that worked out really well.
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: My point you don't call.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: You don't wait till after spring is over to make more quarterback calls, if you like what you see.
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: So I don't put much stock in the the depth chart thing, because they are there.
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: They're trying to figure out who they are.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: They don't really have proof that energy Corey Brooks is there.
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: They don't really have a ton of proven playmakers.
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: Obviously Jameer Gibbs and Bryson carried that team on offense, so they are going to be.
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: There's a four or five.
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: Those guys are going to emerge as superstars, NFL's first second rounders.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: We don't know who they are yet.
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: I think they're trying to still try to figure that out, but I've got huge red flags about their quarterback play Right now.
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: I'm expecting it to be average.
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah Well, and I don't think the the depth chart situation in and of itself is a big deal, but, like you mentioned, it's just indicative of what's going on there.
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: You don't want it's rare to have a team that is expecting national championship type year and not have a have a guy who you know who, who he's going to be.
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: I mean yeah to your point.
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: The depth chart thing.
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: I mean I think our our opening depth chart had like 15 different oars for like starting.
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: You know who's starting, mike White or Mike Wade, like that's.
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: That part's not that big of a deal, but the fact that I mean it is it is a little bit of a controversy that they don't have anybody ready to go.
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: You know one of the things I saw in Josh Pay.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: He was talking a lot about how like his prediction was they're going to turn to this power run team.
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: These guys, which they might, their offensive line should be very good and they've got backs.
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: They always do.
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: Alabama always has backs and they have talent on defense.
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: There is a world where you see a 2014 S 2012 Bama roster which is OK, quarterback play manager.
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: You know Greg McElroy Coker, whatever his name is.
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: You know quarterback play.
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: That's not great, sims and but you have a great running game, really great defense, and they and they kind of just grind you out with your superior talent and muscle for four quarters.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: That'll work to an extent, but that's.
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: You're not beating Georgia that way.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: I don't think you're beating Texas that way.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: I don't even think you're being Tennessee or LSU, who are at least right now for per pound, per pound roster talent or probably a quarter notch down from Texas.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you've got to be able to put up points in a quick way score.
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: You know the game of the century, my wedding night.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: The nine to six LSU victory over Alabama is Stone Age.
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: It is a year.
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: That's not coming back.
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: So I'm I'm pretty bearish on the idea that they can play bully ball in today's version of college football.
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: So I don't know, I'm going to continue to be bearish on Alabama until they give me a reason on the field to do so, which we're going to find out.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: I think we do big time when they host the long.
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, can't wait for that one.
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's going to be sweet.
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: Anything else, I think we're all set, aren't we?
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we ran through it.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: Nice Folks, people have their lives back.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right.
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: Folks, thanks for listening, listening.
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: You always support.
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: You always support us.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: Links are in our bios, the link tree join the Patreon If you want.
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: Throw us a few shekels this way so we can help support the show.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: We got some swag coming, oh, that's right.
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: So I'm not going to tell you what it is yet because I'm going to unveil it.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: You're going to get a chance.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: But if you want to support the show by buying some swag, just know that that might just not go in Mike and I's pocket.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: That goes back into the show to help make it better, do more things and produce a better product for you.
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: So you'll have a chance to do that.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: That's coming next week or so.
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: Patreon's.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: That's going to be coming in your mail.
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: So if you're on the Patreon, you're getting that gift for free.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: So, in other words, send it to join the Patreon.
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: Obviously, hit like subscribe.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: Five star review on Apple means everything to us.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: So if you get a chance to do that, that's great.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: That's all I got.
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: Anything else, good sir?
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: No, let's.
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: Let's watch some college football.
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: Week one.
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: See you guys on week two.
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: Peace, oh you're an adult, live your life.