Latest / You Don't Know Ball Podcast / EPISODE 112: WEEK ONE OF THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE!
Transcript
- Isaac Rowe: What's going on, you don't know ball podcast nation. little different setup for you guys today. We all had pretty busy schedules this week and we couldn't all meet up together. But we did, however, get Caleb to do his own little episode and he kinda goes in and talks about what we what the g the group picked, so keep tuned for that. But right now it's just me. It's just your host Isaac. Alex, Caleb and Jack are all busy working and s and living their lives. So you just get me for about maybe ten minutes, fifteen minutes before you get to listen to Caleb's analysis on week one. But week one is here. Week one of the college football season. We are we're out of the courtrooms, we're out of the all the lawsuits, we're all we're I mean, we're kind of still in one with L S U's hold debacle, but you know, we're we're finally getting onto the playing field and it's it's gonna be a great season already. I mean we we saw that last g l last night's game with Colorado and Georgia Tech going down to the wire. The last two minutes of that game was really good. But obviously there's a bunch of there's gonna be a bunch of like garbage time games this week. It's week one, but there's a couple of hidden gems in here like L S U and Clemson and Louisville and Old Miss and and and then there's some other storylines where we get to see new coaching tenures start like UCLA and Cal, they're both playing against each other. We get to see what Kyle Whittingham could do at Michigan as they host the Western Michigan Broncos. And then we get to see like if the some teams are for real, like Nordame and Georgia and the Texas and the Indiana's of the world, Ohio State. I mean it's gonna be it's gonna be a loaded season. It's gonna be a great season. I'm really excited for it, but I don't really have a a plan for this first like intro. It's just kind of me providing putting something out here from from our studio, just the to show that we s yes, we have an episode and yes we carry. It's just we got a little busy this week. So we'll be back next week with the the rest of the group, but we apologize for not all being here. But all right, so let's let's start with one game. You know, obviously since I'm wearing a Nerd Aim jersey, I'm gonna start there because I'm a biased fan and I'm not scared to say it. But all right. So Nordame is taking out Wisconsin at Lambeau Field this weekend on Sunday starting at seven seven o'clock, seven thirty. we get to see a lot of what Notre Dame could be or if they are if that team is as good as we expect them to be. So we get to see CJ Carr come out and kind of le take take majority of like the the control of the offense. He it goes as far as he can go. I mean We lost two first round running backs last year with Jeremiah Love and Jadarian Price, and that was a lot of our production. So I feel like we're gonna rely on a lot on CJ Carr's arm and and the talent around him at the re s in the receiver room this year that we picked up. So we're gonna see like the Jaden Greyhouses, we're gonna see the Jordan Fajons, we're gonna see Miles Graham and Quincy Porter, hopefully. We're gonna see like Ler Fitzgerald and we're gonna see Bettis. Like it's gonna be a a whole new receiver room that Nerding really hasn't seen ever since like maybe Rocket Ishmael. I mean, that's a long time ago. But we haven't had like a playmaker elite as elite as he was. I mean, I guess if you want to throw Chase Claypool in there, Will Fuller. Definitely Will Fuller, but the if we could have like two or three of those guys, that would be a huge for our receiver room. So I I'm excited to see what the the receiver room, quarterback room relationship is in this game. I'm excited to see w how we not replace J Jeremiah Love and Janaria Price, but how we make up for that missing production with Aeneas Williams, Nolan Nolan Nolan Smith and Kidron Young and I mean there's there's talent in that room for sure. I just don't know how well we we make we I mean there's no way we do better than last year. I mean it's the those are two first round backs. We can't we can't re replace that, but we could get close to it. So definitely some storylines on that side. And then the defense, obviously we revamped the entire D line. Not entire, but we brought some really good pieces in there. We got brought back all of our linebackers. We brought back most of our secondary with Leonard Moore being the headline with the Don Schuler. Like th it's gonna be a really interesting game to see 'cause Wisconsin is a really physical team and it's Luke Fickles like make it or he's I he's either gonna make it or break it season right here. So I mean it's it it would be huge if they were able to show they can compete with a high level team like Nerdame or are they gonna be like the same Wisconsin we've known for the last two to three years where they've just they've been solid defensively but it can get nothing going on offense. So it's gonna be interesting. I'm really looking forward to seeing I think in the quarterback's name's Colton Joseph. He's the old Dominion transfer. He's really he can hurt some people on the ground. He's I mean last year opening week, I don't know if you remember, they he he played Indiana and he had like over a hundred yards rushing and two touchdowns and one of was like a seventy five yard touchdown first play of the game. So he's dangerous. Gotta keep an eye on him, but I'm not Not overly sure of like what else we h they have on like on that team. So I'm I'm really curious 'cause I think Wisconsin can be solid if like on like can be a tricky like game to start off the season with 'cause obviously they're always solid defensively. They were really good on defense last year. They just don't have an offense to complement them. So I think the highlight of this game for Wisconsin is to see if they have an offensive production and and it if they can prove that they're getting better. So That's kinda what I'm thinking like right there. I think but not doing predictions through our our you don't know about pick for this game, but obviously I think you guys know who I'm gonna pick. So next game we're gonna call I'm going to this game. The Alex and I are going to this game. We're going to the Michigan, Western Michigan football game. it starts at seven thirty. It's gonna be hot w at kickoff, so hopefully it's gonna be a gorgeous night from there on out. But We get to see what Bryce Underwood looks like. We get to see what J Jordan Marshall, Savion Hyder combo looks like. JG JJ Buchanan. like it's gonna be a whole lot of new pieces under this Winningham era. And I'm I I think a lot of these fans and they should be it should be excited. So it's gonna be a really good, a really good test. I'm not not a really good test, but like Michig Western Michigan is not like a slouch. They won the Mac last year. They won nine games last year. They I think they won almost won ten. no, I think they did win ten because they went they won their bowl game. So th this definitely isn't a slouched game. I think Western Michigan's gonna test them a c in a couple things and just to see. But I think Michigan is going to win this one pretty handily. But I am excited to see what this Whittingham era brings. I think all these Michigan fans could agree, like the last two years have been pretty brutal to watch, like seven and five and nine and three, but it wasn't really that great with Sharone at the helm and I think a lot of people didn't think he was that competent to do the job and I am one of So I think under Whittingham they're in good hands. I think Jason Beck's a really good offensive coordinator. They got BYU's defensive coordinator. He was really solid for the Cougars last year, so A lot of new pieces and it's just a bunch of questions or question marks right now and I think as the season goes on we're gonna get some answers and it's gonna be pretty impressive like what that team could turn into. I'm not saying they're gonna be like playoff bound or national championships this year, but I could say they're gonna be a hard team to beat. So it's a it's a Kyle Whittingham like build of a football team and they've and Utah's been hard to beat for like the entire time he was there. So we'll see what happens. And I'll talk about one more game. what what game do we should we talk about? I guess we'll talk about LSU Clemson. I mean what a start for LSU. I I mean they've been in the courtroom, they've been on the practice field, courtroom practice field. It's it's ridiculous. Lane Kiffin's getting his name thrown on everywhere about these NFL transfers down to college football and then like all the transfer portal he brought in. But or I hope I I hope they don't like suspend the game, but I hope we get out to the field and we just see what these teams can be. I mean obviously Clemson's unranked for the first time since like twenty twelve or twenty something. I it's been s starting the season unranked. It it's been a while for them, so the Dabo's definitely wanna get that that ship back on the track. So I mean L S U, I mean, they brought Sam Levitt in, they brought in forty other other trans transfers into that team. So it's gonna be a lot of like dan dynamics coming together all at once and let's just see if they mesh. I mean it's gonna be a really, really hard job to do, but if there's one person that could do it, it's Lane and he's proven that over a a a period of three years and four years at old miss. So He's one of the best and he's one of the most controversial. But LSU Clemson week one. I I don't know. It's at LSU's death valley, not Clemson's. I I do think LSU is a little overranked right now at eleven. They just haven't proved anything. Sam Levitt really hasn't proved anything. He got hurt last year. He and he was really good the year before. Then he got hurt. He kind of banged up. So I I do think he could he's gonna succeed in laying Kiffin's office. Don't get me wrong. I think he's gonna be good. It just hasn't proved it yet. And that we're gonna we're going off assumptions of this LSU team that they're gonna be all worldly because of all the transfers they brought in. I don't think they were really taking in the factor of like this this team is like this is the first time like a lot of these players are playing together and it's gonna take a while for them to gel and mesh. So I I don't know. We'll see what happens. Clemson on the other hand, they don't have K Klumbick anymore. They have like Christophia Christopher by Viana or something like that. I don't really remember his name, but he's he started against SMU and he had like two three hundred yards passing and three touchdowns. They lost that game, but he showed promise in that season and they're coming off that dis disappointing season from last year where they had national championship hopes and they just fell apart after after especially like after week one after they lost L S U. So it's definitely gonna be an interesting game to watch because is it the year that dabo finally puts it back together we see those twenty sixteen twenty fifteen like Clemson teams like show up show up at this year or is it gonna be like the last cut couple of years that we've seen Clemson. I mean it's it's kind of it's kinda been hard kinda hard to watch right now. But we'll see what happens. I'm defin I'm gonna pick LSU, unfortunately though. I think LSU's gonna win this game. And it's gonna be close. It's gonna be a really good game. I think Dabbo and Lane have some beef against each other. So it's gonna be really it's gonna be really entertaining to watch. So I'm excited for this week one. Obviously it's it's already kinda off to a hot start. And you know, let's just get ready for it. It's it's gonna be long and it's gonna be a r really fun season. I would ask if anybody else has any closing thoughts, but I'm gonna turn it to Caleb and his real his episode he recorded this morning. remember we don't know ball, you don't know ball, we all don't know ball. Enjoy this episode from Caleb. Hello, hello You Don't Know Ball Podcast, it's Leb on the audio. we are doing my pick'ems for this week. It is currently Friday morning and one of the games has already happened, but to be honest, I was so distracted last night, I haven't even seen the result of it. So I still think it's fair to try to pick it. you just gotta take my word for it, I have not seen what happens, so I could pick the wrong team here after the game's already happened and look really stupid. So we'll see. let's see, week zero stuff, what happened? I saw Eastern win. I can't believe Noah Kim is seventh year Q V right now. That shit is crazy to me. anything else crazy happen in week zero? the UN C and TCU game was pretty good. I think the rain really affected a lot of it. I think TCU they made a lot of really crazy mistakes that a lot of people probably didn't foresee coming. That's why TCU was kind of favored to win. But Lo and behold, Bill Belichick finally wins a opening game. good for UNC. Billy Edwards played really well. so he's that's got that's a great look honestly for UNC to go do that. so their season's off to a good start and TCU now is you know, it he i w whatever team lost, it was gonna be a really bad look and it just unfortunately happened to be T C U. Good for me 'cause I picked UN C so shout out Chapel Hill. Any other games in week zero that were interesting. Virginia smacked NC State. I wasn't expecting that. Bo Prabula is probably my player of the week, but my duo of the week, the Memphis D line played extremely well against UNLV. They competed really hard in the second half after kinda getting spanked around in the first half and letting Jackson Arnold do whatever he wanted. They responded to that adversity well and they ended up coming back and winning on the road. And UNL V was talking about being a college football playoff team. but they would have had to go undefeated as an independent to do that and well they're not they're gonna do that anymore. They lost Memphis, who now is like a real powerhouse in the group of five. So, that's exciting, good for them. Or I guess it's group of six now. But other than that, yeah, let's get into this week's game. So we have Colorado at Georgia Tech, and this one it was always gonna be Georgia Tech for me, so I'm gonna pick them and I'm gonna look at the score today when I get to where I need need to go. And you know, Georgia Tech, they they've got the better team on paper. They should win, they're at home. Colorado mainly I'm not picking Colorado, I'm just gonna stick with my guns on this one and I said in our Big Twelve prediction video that Colorado was gonna be the worst team in the Big Twelve. So I'm gonna go ahead and stick with that and say that they're gonna lose this week one matchup against Georgia Tech. we'll see what happens. they just don't yeah, I don't think there's any further reasoning I need to have for this. So I like Georgia Tech here, even though it is kind of a toss up game and they're supposed to be you know, only separated by one score or whatever. next is more interesting in my opinion, San Jose State at Eastern. We did just see Eastern beat Sacramento State at home, but it is Sacramento State, who weirdly to me, I didn't know they joined the Mac. so that's kinda like a mini big 10 now in a way. The Mac has a bunch of midwestern teams and then Sacramento State just kinda joins in there, but Sacramento State obviously not on the same level as Eastern, I would say. even though they're probably similar sizes in school, Eastern obviously just outmatched them. Eastern's defense did hold up well, and when you have such a veteran QE like Noah Kim at quarterback, you can do some pretty incredible things. But San Jose State, they're not Sacramento State. And I think based off what I saw against US C last week, even though a lot of their starters kept playing in the garbage time, USC only dropped forty two on so they only lost by sixteen. You know, San Jose covered that spread really well. I like them coming to the East Coast. They see Eastern, they're gonna be hungry. Eastern's not that great of a team. I think Noah Ken's gonna get exposed against the San San Jose State defense. I I predict San Jose State getting the win on the road here. and I think they also did something very similar last year, maybe two years ago against central Michigan as well. so San Jose State, you they got a pretty good record against the Michigan teams. So I like I like their their chances here. Toledo at Michigan State. The funny thing is I am going to this game, so this game will be happening today. I will be there, I will be tailgating there. So it should be a lot of fun. And I've been talking about this game extensively with my friends and whatnot about what we think. And I'm gonna stick with it. I think Toledo is gonna cover the spread. We're doing a spread pick here. Michigan State, favored by nine and a half. I think Toledo's gonna cover that and possibly win this football game. Not only are they one of the best teams in the Mac, Michigan State might be the worst in the big ten. So if anything, they're on pretty even playing fields. The only thing Michigan State has going for them right now, in my opinion, is the home field advantage. Which by the let's be honest here, like Michigan State's home field advantage is nothing compared to what it used to be. even though it is gonna be a week one game against Toledo, you know, I just don't think Michigan State has that aura at Spartan Stadium anymore that they used to have. Which is really unfortunate. 'cause man, I remember back in like twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three when they had expectations and they had aura about them. It it was a good ass place to play football. Unless they're host Michigan at home, they're not have, you know, any any semblance of fan base to kinda you know to kinda ride there. So also we saw last year Michigan State arguably with a better team, better talent, almost lost to Boston College in like triple overtime at home. I I predict Toledo can probably keep this within a one tour game. So that's what I'm gonna go with. UCLA at California. This one's a pretty simple pick for me. It's kind of a biased pick, but I'm gonna go Cal here to take the game at home. And my only reason is I want UCLA to win so bad. I'm a UCLA fan. Everyone knows this. But I'm gonna pick Cal. So either way, what happens tonight, I have something to be happy about. If UCLA wins, so what? I get my pick wrong. If Cal wins, I get my pick'em right, UCLA loses. I'm that's what I'm kinda doing right now. So I'm just gonna go with California. Though I am excited to see both of these teams both have expectations this year of full eligibility and being better and We have a pretty intriguing QB matchup with Iam Aliava and Sagapula Tele going against each other, and I know a lot of people are excited to see what year two's Tagapula Tele looks like. And I'm excited to see what that UCLA defense can do with all those James Madison transfers. So this one I'm not really necessarily worried about getting it right or wrong. I'm more so intrigued just to see what happens with the game tonight. Baylor at Auburn is the next one. Auburn They have one of the most intriguing players to me in college football this year in Byron Brown. Auburn's season could go one way or the other. And last year I picked Auburn to win this game. They were at Baylor and Baylor beat I think the prediction here is obviously for Auburn to win. and I think I'm gonna rock with that again. Somet something in my gut is telling me not to rock Baylor, so that's just what I'm gonna go with. I like Auburn's team better. Baylor, they're not I I think they got a little bit worse. So I I'm just gonna stick with that and not overthink it too much. So if Auburn loses, they lose. It is what it is. Wyoming at Colorado State, this one this one I'm I'm man, Colorado State, they pulled off some pretty impressive victories over the years. but also Wyoming, I know they're not like Wyoming's no splots of a program. You know, they've g they've got the history, they've got the the the aura about them, those cowboys, they really do. But Colorado State shoot, man. And which team do I really think Colorado State's gonna lose their week one game at home? definitely could. You know, I'm just not gonna overthink it. I'm gonna go with Colorado State here. Their favorite, it's week one. I know it's kind of a pussy out pick, but you know, it is what it is. just gimme gimme the Buffalo or whatever they are. The the Louisville and Ole Miss. what is this one? This spread is seven. Ole Miss is supposed to win by seven. This is a this is a good matchup to have. we got A C T versus S C T, arguably the p you know, top three team in each conference matchup here. Ole Miss is gonna come out guns of blazing. That's gonna be really, really hard for Louisville to match, I think. Especially with Ole Miss being at home. I think with Louisville being at home they would have a lot better of a shot, but to be honest, I think Ole Miss can blow these guys out of the water. Louisville, I don't think they're there, at all, talent wise with Ole Miss. Ole Miss has the veteran Q B. Ole Miss has the head coach that was just hired and put up such a good performance in the playoffs that I think they're so they're they're just ready to kinda take the world by storm and go on their revenge tour. and Louisville is such a good first step to jump off on, they're not gonna waste this opportunity. So give me Ovis to cover, or not to cover, just to win. And then SMU at Florida State. This one. Ugh, Florida State did just get a pretty dominant win against New Mexico State. So that's kind of intriguing. I think man, I this game's supposed to be closed. SMU we've seen like SMU is so weird 'cause I feel like I've seen them drop games they're supposed to win. Do I think they're gonna do that in week one? Florida State's at home. Florida State's got a pretty good home atmosphere. But can the Seminoles come out in week two and beat a team that's ranked and it's supposed to win? You know, I feel like we all see that ranked team lose in week one and this feels like a game where it could happen. Florida State's coming in with momentum. You know, my gut's telling me to pick Florida State, so I'm gonna do it. So I'm gonna take Florida State to pull off the upset against SBU. We're gonna have there's gotta be some sort of upset that's happening this week, and this is the one that I'm going with. we're gonna see SMU whose rank go down. I have no other reasoning besides like the momentum factor and the fact that Florida State's at home. I do like that. for that being in their favor. So I think that's what I'm gonna rock with. So those are my picks. Rock with them if you want. Those are my reasonings. And we're gonna see how I did by the end of the weekend. I'm excited to see how these car picks went. Might go terribly, might not, you know, but I think I've set myself up here. You know, I picked some upsets, I I chose some safe ones. So if I go fifty fifty this week, I'll be totally happy with that. So yeah, we'll see how it goes. But this has been Caleb doing my pick ums from the You Don't Know Ball podcast. And I'll talk to you later. Peace.