Latest / Mac & Bone Podcast / Mac & Bone Show - Taylor Tannebaum Interview
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: But right now, we're going to talk matchups. We're going
- 0:02Speaker 1: to talk ACC football. But we're also going to talk
- 0:05Speaker 1: about those first playoff standings, rankings not being kind to
- 0:09Speaker 1: Wake Forest and.
- 0:10Speaker 2: Therefore the ACC.
- 0:12Speaker 1: Taylor Tannenbaum, ACC Network, the hostess with the mostess, is
- 0:17Speaker 1: with us to talk all things ACC right now.
- 0:20Speaker 2: Taylor, what's going on? How you doing?
- 0:22Speaker 3: Always great to be with you, friends. I'm good. I'm
- 0:25Speaker 3: putting my final touches on my packing because we are
- 0:28Speaker 3: heading to Syracuse, New York. So that's a drive from
- 0:32Speaker 3: my stomping grounds here in Connecticut.
- 0:37Speaker 1: That's an intriguing game with the way Syracuse has played
- 0:41Speaker 1: the last two weeks. Clemson finally got offense going last week.
- 0:45Speaker 2: That's kind of interesting, that game. It's not snowing there yet,
- 0:47Speaker 2: is it?
- 0:49Speaker 3: No, but it's rainy and cold, so you know it
- 0:53Speaker 3: could potentially happen. It could snow because we're rolling into
- 0:56Speaker 3: town naturally. It is somewhat intriguing, you guys, because... Clemson,
- 1:02Speaker 3: for one, is not fully out of the ACC championship
- 1:05Speaker 3: race by any stretch because of the way things have
- 1:07Speaker 3: been going in the league, and they looked competent offensively
- 1:11Speaker 3: last week. I'm not going to say it was their
- 1:12Speaker 3: greatest performance, but you did have Tate Reynolds looking like
- 1:16Speaker 3: a more mature quarterback in his sixth start and running
- 1:18Speaker 3: the offense a little bit better. And then you have
- 1:21Speaker 3: a Syracuse team that's confident, right? They've won two straight,
- 1:24Speaker 3: and there's this little bromance between Fran Brown and Davos
- 1:27Speaker 3: Sweeney over the years from a few years ago and
- 1:31Speaker 3: Syracuse knocked off Miami in that regular season finale, which
- 1:34Speaker 3: ultimately sent Clemson to the ACC championship game and then
- 1:38Speaker 3: the college football playoff. And last year, Syracuse going to
- 1:41Speaker 3: Death Valley and beating Clemson there. That's when they lost
- 1:44Speaker 3: their quarterback, Stephen Jelly, to that Achilles injury. And both
- 1:47Speaker 3: have been very complimentary of each other. So a pivotal point,
- 1:50Speaker 3: it feels like, for both programs. For Syracuse, it's about
- 1:53Speaker 3: bowl eligibility at this point. And for Clemson, it's how
- 1:57Speaker 3: are you going to close out this season that did
- 1:59Speaker 3: not start or has looked the way that we thought
- 2:01Speaker 3: it would.
- 2:02Speaker 4: Syracuse, such a different team, and the numbers bear out too,
- 2:05Speaker 4: Mac and Taylor, with Angele versus without them. So it
- 2:08Speaker 4: makes a much more difficult matchup for Clemson tomorrow. ACC Network,
- 2:14Speaker 4: check out Taylor and the gang. all their coverage there. Taylor,
- 2:17Speaker 4: we know here and you know from what you do
- 2:21Speaker 4: day in, day out, how good Wake Forest is. But
- 2:24Speaker 4: it's not shocking to us that maybe nationally and committee-wise
- 2:28Speaker 4: they were disrespected. It doesn't mean it's not annoying, but
- 2:31Speaker 4: it's not shocking to us. What's your take on Wake
- 2:34Speaker 4: Forest in the initial playoff rankings based on their level
- 2:37Speaker 4: of dominance lately that they came in at No.
- 2:39Speaker 2: 16?
- 2:41Speaker 3: I'm really disappointed. Again, like you just said, I'm not shocked,
- 2:45Speaker 3: but I'm really disappointed if you've watched football at all.
- 2:49Speaker 3: And even if you look at their record, their only
- 2:51Speaker 3: loss is quite literally to the number one team in
- 2:53Speaker 3: the country. You would recognize that that's a top 10 team.
- 2:57Speaker 3: My biggest thing is, look, I'm not going to blow
- 3:00Speaker 3: it out of proportion, despite what my mind is telling
- 3:03Speaker 3: me after release of week one, okay? Because... they do
- 3:07Speaker 3: still have quote unquote opportunity ahead of them, which is
- 3:09Speaker 3: simply just winning out and continuing to play the way
- 3:12Speaker 3: they are at the level they are. But my biggest
- 3:15Speaker 3: issue is the disparity and the lack of clarity from
- 3:19Speaker 3: the committee. It's obvious they're valuing wins and ranked wins.
- 3:23Speaker 3: And that's why the SEC has as many teams in
- 3:26Speaker 3: there as they do. And as many in the top
- 3:28Speaker 3: 12 as they do, despite several of them having two losses.
- 3:31Speaker 3: But it's, To me, why is Wake 16 in, like, say,
- 3:35Speaker 3: Indiana is four, or even a Notre Dame at 11?
- 3:38Speaker 3: None of those have a ranked win on their schedule.
- 3:42Speaker 3: The metrics essentially align Indiana and Wake Forest. The eye
- 3:46Speaker 3: test would tell you Wake Forest is playing, especially in
- 3:49Speaker 3: the last month, significantly better than Indiana. And credit where
- 3:52Speaker 3: credit is due, the Hoosiers are the reigning national champions,
- 3:55Speaker 3: but that was last year. This is this year. So
- 3:59Speaker 3: to me, it's not necessarily I'm going to complain about
- 4:01Speaker 3: where Wake is ranked. I don't think they're 16. I
- 4:04Speaker 3: think they should be a top 10, at least 12 team.
- 4:07Speaker 3: But to me, it's the disparity and the lack of
- 4:08Speaker 3: clarity from the committee in why. And to me, when
- 4:12Speaker 3: you boil it down, the only reason would be is because,
- 4:14Speaker 3: quote unquote, they play in the ACC, which is a
- 4:16Speaker 3: perceived lesser conference. When we're also in the same breath,
- 4:20Speaker 3: having the same conversation. that there's more parody in the
- 4:24Speaker 3: country than ever before, but this league's not getting that
- 4:26Speaker 3: benefit of the doubt. Instead, the league is just not
- 4:28Speaker 3: good when it could just be that everyone is beating
- 4:31Speaker 3: up on each other, like other leagues. So that's my,
- 4:34Speaker 3: my short spiel. I have the numbers to back it up,
- 4:36Speaker 3: but hopefully they can continue to win. We'll see what
- 4:41Speaker 3: the status is of their quarterback, Gio Lopez, because he
- 4:43Speaker 3: did definitely injure that knee last game. So we'll continue
- 4:49Speaker 3: to monitor that.
- 4:49Speaker 2: Luckily, they have the Mary Mac game.
- 4:51Speaker 1: No disrespect to Mary Mac, but I'm just being real,
- 4:54Speaker 1: Mary Mac. I'm being real on this one. But luckily,
- 4:57Speaker 1: they have that game, but they got SMU next week.
- 5:00Speaker 1: SMU's got Virginia Tech tonight in an important one. I
- 5:03Speaker 1: want to follow up on what you're saying, Taylor. The
- 5:06Speaker 1: thing that gets me, and I do acknowledge that the
- 5:10Speaker 1: way their rankings shape up, they don't have the ranked
- 5:13Speaker 1: win rate. But the thing that stinks is it seems
- 5:16Speaker 1: to be apparent that they're going to have to win
- 5:20Speaker 1: the ACC outright to get in, right? Like they don't
- 5:24Speaker 1: have a chance of playing Miami down to the wire,
- 5:27Speaker 1: blowing everybody else out and get in.
- 5:29Speaker 2: And I hate that for Deke fans.
- 5:32Speaker 3: Me too. And that's sort of what they're signifying. Now,
- 5:34Speaker 3: I will say there are a ton of teams in
- 5:37Speaker 3: front of them that will inevitably beat up on each other,
- 5:39Speaker 3: but because the committee is so evidently valuing you know,
- 5:43Speaker 3: your strength of schedule and who you beat, those are
- 5:45Speaker 3: all going to be ranked wins in the SEC because
- 5:47Speaker 3: they're putting the SEC in all of these ranked positions
- 5:51Speaker 3: and not valuing anything this league has done. So yeah,
- 5:55Speaker 3: that is disappointing. And again, you just kind of have
- 5:58Speaker 3: to go out there and take care of your business
- 6:00Speaker 3: and let everything catch fire around you, which is subject
- 6:04Speaker 3: to happen. And I will say, you know, like, The
- 6:07Speaker 3: rest of the league in the ACC does have to
- 6:09Speaker 3: carry its water. Like, you know, that game next week
- 6:11Speaker 3: against SMU was slated to be a ranked win, and
- 6:15Speaker 3: then SMU goes and loses to Syracuse. And while Syracuse
- 6:18Speaker 3: is on a hotter streak, when you're at the top
- 6:21Speaker 3: of the league, you have to carry that water. And unfortunately,
- 6:23Speaker 3: you saw like a Virginia Tech lose to a Cal
- 6:25Speaker 3: or else that could have potentially been a ranked game
- 6:28Speaker 3: on Friday. And you have a Louisville team whose only
- 6:31Speaker 3: three losses– are by three points each. And, oh, by
- 6:34Speaker 3: the way, one of them is to a top-ten team
- 6:36Speaker 3: in Ole Miss, but we're not going to acknowledge that, apparently.
- 6:39Speaker 1: The State loss is the one with Louisville-Taylor where it's like,
- 6:41Speaker 1: come on, you're not helping the Con. As much as
- 6:43Speaker 1: I personally wanted State to win, it's like, come on.
- 6:47Speaker 3: You can't lose to NC State because that's a ranked
- 6:50Speaker 3: win that falls off of Wake's schedule. You know, it's
- 6:54Speaker 3: all tied together. But go out, take care of your business,
- 6:56Speaker 3: and hope that the rest of the country cannibalizes itself.
- 6:58Speaker 4: And, Taylor, the team at the top right now, Miami,
- 7:01Speaker 4: has been teetering a little bit in some of these games,
- 7:03Speaker 4: and that was with Malachi, Tony. Now we find out
- 7:05Speaker 4: he's out for a while here. How worried are you,
- 7:10Speaker 4: not just about the Notre Dame game? Of course, that's
- 7:12Speaker 4: tough with or without Tony. But the stretch run, how
- 7:15Speaker 4: can Miami survive this without Tony here for the next four, five,
- 7:20Speaker 4: six weeks?
- 7:21Speaker 3: Run the damn ball. I will say, obviously Malachi Tony
- 7:28Speaker 3: is the engine that makes this offense go, but don't
- 7:32Speaker 3: forget they have a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback in
- 7:35Speaker 3: Darian Mensah, and that just didn't pop up overnight because
- 7:37Speaker 3: he got a good receiver. This has been a strong
- 7:39Speaker 3: sample size from Tulane to Duke to now at Miami.
- 7:43Speaker 3: And the thing is, Malachi Tony eats up so much
- 7:47Speaker 3: of the catches that other people haven't had to step up.
- 7:50Speaker 3: This is your chance to go shine. He has his
- 7:53Speaker 3: Robin to his Batman from Duke and Cooper barking, who
- 7:56Speaker 3: has really yet to break out. You've seen flashes, but
- 7:58Speaker 3: they have a rapport that was built two years ago.
- 8:01Speaker 3: And then you have a young guy in Galen Upshaw.
- 8:03Speaker 3: You do have an elite tight end and Elijah Lofton.
- 8:06Speaker 3: So it's just incumbent on other people to find, to
- 8:10Speaker 3: finally step up and fill that void that Malachi Tony
- 8:13Speaker 3: is going to leave. And you have a stable of backs.
- 8:15Speaker 3: You have Mark Fletcher. You have JV and Mallory who
- 8:17Speaker 3: has really come into his own as a Shannon Dawson,
- 8:23Speaker 3: the offensive coordinator, is going to call a great game
- 8:25Speaker 3: like he always does. It's not like they're without weapons.
- 8:27Speaker 3: I'm more concerned defensively, you guys, honestly. You know, the
- 8:31Speaker 3: offense is going to do its thing. I do think
- 8:32Speaker 3: it will score points, even though Notre Dame's defense is
- 8:36Speaker 3: quite literally the best in the country. The defense has to...
- 8:40Speaker 3: to pull its weight. Like, they can't just be allowing
- 8:42Speaker 3: 30-plus points per game if they are going to survive
- 8:46Speaker 3: this stretch run without a Malachi Tony.
- 8:47Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt.
- 8:48Speaker 1: That pass defense, you saw it last week. They made
- 8:51Speaker 1: Billy Edwards look like Drake May last week.
- 8:54Speaker 2: So, yeah. And the Florida State game, too.
- 8:57Speaker 3: So.
- 8:57Speaker 1: It's a huge game. I hate it that Tony's not playing.
- 9:00Speaker 1: It's such a showcase game. It does suck. I do
- 9:05Speaker 1: wonder how the committee, not to go back to the committee, Taylor,
- 9:10Speaker 1: and get on that fun topic again, but I'm wondering
- 9:13Speaker 1: if they were to lose without Tony, but they then
- 9:18Speaker 1: lost to Wake in the ACC title game, would they
- 9:22Speaker 1: get a bit of a break and definitely be in
- 9:23Speaker 1: the field because the loss was to Notre Dame without
- 9:26Speaker 1: Malachi Tony?
- 9:29Speaker 3: If you're going to tell me that you are going
- 9:31Speaker 3: to keep out Miami after watching them an entirety of
- 9:34Speaker 3: the season and full well knowing that he is capable
- 9:38Speaker 3: of returning for a playoff and leave them out, then
- 9:41Speaker 3: abolish the committee. Respectfully. But Miami, too, has to win
- 9:45Speaker 3: the rest of its regular season games if by chance
- 9:48Speaker 3: something goes wrong at Notre Dame. You have to acknowledge
- 9:51Speaker 3: that they have other elite players on this team, including
- 9:54Speaker 3: at quarterback. But it's incumbent on Miami to just not
- 9:57Speaker 3: even allow the committee to be in this conversation. Yeah.
- 9:59Speaker 1: No, I'm with you on that. I, and, and, and
- 10:01Speaker 1: you're running the damn ball comment. Like I do kind
- 10:04Speaker 1: of wonder, not that like Mensa, like to your point
- 10:06Speaker 1: is really good. But I do wonder, no names run
- 10:09Speaker 1: defense is damn good. But do they say, Mark Fletcher,
- 10:12Speaker 1: this game's on you. We've given you the ball 30 times.
- 10:15Speaker 1: I wonder if they try and then ball control it
- 10:18Speaker 1: and keep Carr off the field and protect your defense.
- 10:21Speaker 1: I wonder if they try that.
- 10:23Speaker 3: You know, I think it's definitely going to be part
- 10:25Speaker 3: of the game plan. And I think Mark Fletcher is
- 10:26Speaker 3: going to say, I want the ball on my shoulders.
- 10:29Speaker 3: He did it in the playoff last year. He is
- 10:32Speaker 3: more than capable of carrying a load and then some.
- 10:35Speaker 3: And I think as a senior leader and Malachi, Tony
- 10:37Speaker 3: is one of his closest, dearest friends. You're going to
- 10:40Speaker 3: see that this weekend. I think they're going to have
- 10:42Speaker 3: added motivation, which is not necessarily what you want. Now
- 10:44Speaker 3: credit to Notre Dame. They are an elite football team.
- 10:47Speaker 3: They too are dealing with some, some valuable injuries.
- 10:51Speaker 4: If the committee even thought about leaving Miami out, I
- 10:55Speaker 4: think that Michael Irvin would go get the RV that
- 10:58Speaker 4: he gave to Mama Fletcher and drive it into the
- 11:00Speaker 4: offices of the committee. He'd knock all their hats off
- 11:03Speaker 4: that rack. I'm terrified how that man would react to this.
- 11:05Speaker 4: All their hats would fall off that rack, Boney.
- 11:08Speaker 1: He really might.
- 11:09Speaker 3: You're so right about that. But man, if a Miami
- 11:11Speaker 3: team gets left out of a 12-team playoff by potentially
- 11:15Speaker 3: losing a close one to Notre Dame and falling short
- 11:17Speaker 3: in a championship game that a lot of three-loss SEC
- 11:20Speaker 3: teams aren't even going to be playing in, oh, by
- 11:22Speaker 3: the way, then you're not putting the 12 best teams
- 11:24Speaker 3: in the country in the playoff. And you're doing the
- 11:26Speaker 3: fans a disservice.
- 11:27Speaker 1: This text is hilarious. 704 number says, Mac, what are
- 11:29Speaker 1: you doing to poor Taylor? You're bringing up hypotheticals that
- 11:32Speaker 1: are getting her even more angry. Please don't do this.
- 11:34Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
- 11:36Speaker 2: Listen, I promised myself I.
- 11:37Speaker 3: Wouldn't get riled up. I promised myself, but I can't
- 11:40Speaker 3: do it, you guys. I am who I am.
- 11:42Speaker 1: But that's why we love you is like you are
- 11:45Speaker 1: just passionate.
- 11:46Speaker 2: You have opinions. You know what I mean?
- 11:47Speaker 1: You've got opinions. You back it up with facts. It's
- 11:49Speaker 1: not like you're just throwing crazy stuff out like our
- 11:52Speaker 1: text line does.
- 11:53Speaker 2: You got facts, baby. I like it.
- 11:55Speaker 3: Only sometimes, you know. Head over to my Twitter for
- 11:59Speaker 3: the real facts because I'll drop numbers on there.
- 12:01Speaker 2: What do you think?
- 12:02Speaker 1: Before we let you go, we've got to ask you
- 12:03Speaker 1: about Duke-NC State, a big game here in our neck
- 12:08Speaker 1: of the woods. Duke has, and Bone has reminded State
- 12:11Speaker 1: fans of this over the last three years.
- 12:13Speaker 2: Just numbers.
- 12:13Speaker 1: I just have the numbers, Taylor. I can't deny it.
- 12:16Speaker 1: Double-digit wins each of the last three years for Duke
- 12:19Speaker 1: over State. Do you think that continues? What are your
- 12:23Speaker 1: thoughts on this one?
- 12:25Speaker 3: I remember sidelining that 23 game in Durham. That was
- 12:33Speaker 3: not good.
- 12:33Speaker 2: That was a real bad one for State.
- 12:36Speaker 3: That was not good at all. I think Duke has
- 12:41Speaker 3: the best running back and one of the best players
- 12:44Speaker 3: in the country. By the way, they just launched... Nate
- 12:47Speaker 3: Shepard's Heisman campaign, too, and rightfully so. His numbers are
- 12:50Speaker 3: off the charts. I don't know that NC State for
- 12:52Speaker 3: four quarters can sustain trying to figure out how to
- 12:54Speaker 3: stop Nate Shepard. That's just what this game boils down to,
- 13:00Speaker 3: I think. It will be great for NC State to
- 13:02Speaker 3: get Duke Scott back, if they do, because they need
- 13:05Speaker 3: a run game. It's... You know, they want to compete
- 13:09Speaker 3: in this one, I think, to be sustainable and not
- 13:12Speaker 3: just leave it up to C.J. Bailey and this passing
- 13:15Speaker 3: game against a really, really, really good Duke defense. So
- 13:18Speaker 3: those are some things to monitor, but trying to stop
- 13:22Speaker 3: Nate Shepard is something people haven't been able to do.
- 13:24Speaker 3: If they can do it on the ground, great, but
- 13:25Speaker 3: he's going to kill you in the pass game.
- 13:27Speaker 2: That's true.
- 13:27Speaker 3: He's more scrimmage yards than anybody else in the country,
- 13:30Speaker 3: 18 of them.
- 13:31Speaker 1: He's got 972 rush yards and 14 rush TDs. 31
- 13:37Speaker 1: catches for 302 receiving yards and four receiving TDs. He
- 13:41Speaker 1: has to be a Heisman finalist, doesn't he? And I
- 13:44Speaker 1: don't have confidence that the voters will do that, but
- 13:47Speaker 1: doesn't he have to be a finalist, y'all, if he
- 13:50Speaker 1: keeps this up?
- 13:51Speaker 2: Absolutely does.
- 13:53Speaker 3: I think numerically, yes, absolutely. The good news is Duke
- 13:56Speaker 3: does play Miami next week, and Duke does play Wake Forest.
- 14:00Speaker 3: So he's going to have chances to show not just
- 14:02Speaker 3: the ACC we're watching, but the country who he really
- 14:05Speaker 3: is against a legitimate... contender for a college football playoff.
- 14:10Speaker 2: Good point.
- 14:10Speaker 4: And he has those numbers, and he wasn't healthy for
- 14:12Speaker 4: about three weeks here. If he was actually healthy... Yeah, no,
- 14:16Speaker 4: that's a great point, too, man.
- 14:18Speaker 2: Y'all are all over it, man.
- 14:19Speaker 1: I feel like we're all vibing right now on the
- 14:23Speaker 1: same page.
- 14:24Speaker 2: We do need to shout out Taylor.
- 14:26Speaker 1: She has added, like, a 14th job at ESPN or,
- 14:31Speaker 1: you know, with ESPN, the ACC Network. You now are
- 14:34Speaker 1: going to be doing for ESPN... coverage of the women's
- 14:38Speaker 1: TGL golf.
- 14:39Speaker 2: Is this true?
- 14:41Speaker 3: It is true. It starts on Sunday. It's the inaugural
- 14:44Speaker 3: season of WTGL. They're heading into year three of TGL.
- 14:48Speaker 3: So they wanted to get the ladies involved in rightfully so. And, uh,
- 14:52Speaker 3: there are some incredible names, uh, from the LPGA that
- 14:56Speaker 3: are coming over to play in this, including headline by
- 14:59Speaker 3: Michelle Lee West. Everybody knows her. Um, and, And I'm
- 15:03Speaker 3: excited to dive into an aspect of sports that I'm
- 15:07Speaker 3: not normally dabbling in, which is golf. But it's so different.
- 15:10Speaker 3: And I hope people will tune in. Our first match
- 15:12Speaker 3: is Sunday at 3 o'clock on ESPN. And I know
- 15:15Speaker 3: a lot of people will be watching NFL. But if
- 15:17Speaker 3: you want a little change of pace and to see
- 15:19Speaker 3: some of these incredible ladies do their thing. um, lock
- 15:22Speaker 3: in and then we'll, we'll see what I bring to
- 15:24Speaker 3: the table because this is a fun, exciting learning experience
- 15:28Speaker 3: for all of us because it's never been done before.
- 15:29Speaker 3: So let's get it.
- 15:31Speaker 4: So Sunday's your day off. You said, I'll just throw
- 15:33Speaker 4: another job on the table. Who needs days off?
- 15:35Speaker 3: Who needs a day off? We'll sleep in June.
- 15:39Speaker 1: All right, Taylor, you rock. Congratulations on that and all
- 15:43Speaker 1: your success. Um, uh, thanks for coming on. We appreciate it.
- 15:48Speaker 3: You guys are the absolute best anytime, and I hopefully
- 15:51Speaker 3: will see you soon.