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Should FSU Be CONCERNED About SMU? Mustangs Insider ADMITS Something Before Seminoles vs SMU! · ACC Football Addiction (Atlantic Coast Conference)

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to ACC Football Addiction. We are presented by PrizePix.
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  Speaker 2: All new users there get $ 150 instantly when they win
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  Speaker 2: their first $ 5 lineup using code HMA. TJ Pinder, ACC
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  Speaker 2: Football Addiction, and Billy Embody on the Pony Express.
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  Speaker 1: It's finally back. We got a little taste this weekend,
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  Speaker 1: and Florida State did specifically.
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  Speaker 2: But it is good to actually have college football to
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  Speaker 2: talk about and games that will be played this weekend
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  Speaker 2: all the way through Monday night where FSU and SMU
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  Speaker 2: will kick off in Doak.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it takes a lot of the stress off the
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  Speaker 3: weekend planning because I could just say, hey, look, there's
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  Speaker 3: football on. We've got to plan around this. We've got
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  Speaker 3: to plan around that game. And SMU, FSU gets us
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  Speaker 3: all the way through Labor Day weekend. I think it's
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  Speaker 3: a kind of sneaky good slate overall. I know it
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  Speaker 3: doesn't have all every single game being super hype, but
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  Speaker 3: I like the slate.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you look at the FSU-SMU game, intriguing
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  Speaker 2: for several reasons on both sides. Louisville-Omiss I think is really,
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  Speaker 2: really fun on Sunday. I think Wisconsin, all that they've
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  Speaker 2: put into Fickle, playing Notre Dame, not expecting Notre Dame
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  Speaker 2: to win big there. Clemson-LSU, for all the reasons on
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  Speaker 2: and off the field for both those teams, there is
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  Speaker 2: good stuff. It's not wall-to-wall bangers, but even like Colorado-Georgia
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  Speaker 2: Tech and Baylor-Auburn, there's fun stuff happening. And so Listen,
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  Speaker 2: I was watching FCS games on Thursday and Friday night, so.
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  Speaker 3: I don't care.
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  Speaker 2: I will watch anything that gets put on TV, and
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  Speaker 2: I'm already ready for Thursday night. So the Monday night game,
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  Speaker 2: SMU and Florida State, obviously the first talking point is
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  Speaker 2: Florida State didn't look great against New Mexico State. They
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  Speaker 2: had 10 points through 25 minutes of the game there.
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  Speaker 1: They were able to stay in control, and I don't
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  Speaker 1: think that it was ever really a game that was
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  Speaker 1: in question.
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  Speaker 2: But New Mexico State, had they not shot themselves in
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  Speaker 2: the foot a couple of times, maybe makes that a
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  Speaker 2: little bit closer. Granted, if Florida State doesn't shoot themselves
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  Speaker 2: in the foot, too, it probably gets out of hand
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  Speaker 2: even more than it did. But I was asked this
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  Speaker 2: on our FSU show. What was Rhett Lashley thinking watching
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  Speaker 2: this game? If you had to go inside the mind
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  Speaker 2: of Rhett while he's watching a 31-point favorite squeak out
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  Speaker 2: a win against New Mexico State, what do you think
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  Speaker 2: he was thinking during that?
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  Speaker 3: I think SMU's got to play with a ton of effort.
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  Speaker 3: And that's what stood out to me about New Mexico State.
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  Speaker 3: And that might sound like I'm downplaying some of the
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  Speaker 3: things that they did schematically to open up some of
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  Speaker 3: those things in the passing game with Hedden throwing the
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  Speaker 3: ball around the yard, a pretty good pit. But they
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  Speaker 3: really played hard defensively. That's what stood out to me.
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  Speaker 3: FSU was able to kind of impose their will a
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  Speaker 3: little bit. Their running backs picked up a bunch of yards,
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  Speaker 3: making guys miss. So that talent's there. But I thought
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  Speaker 3: the defensive line for New Mexico State really put FSU's
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  Speaker 3: O-line on its heels a little bit. And especially rushing
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  Speaker 3: the quarterback, I felt like that was an area that
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  Speaker 3: New Mexico State was able to dial some things up
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  Speaker 3: that made life difficult at times on Ashton Daniels. And
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  Speaker 3: it just kind of looked a little lethargic overall from FSU,
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  Speaker 3: which when you're playing that type of an opponent week
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  Speaker 3: one or, well, week zero, you never know kind of
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  Speaker 3: what you're going to get in that regard. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: SMU did that last year. against East Texas A &
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  Speaker 3: M Commerce or whatever they're called now. And it was
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  Speaker 3: kind of, all right, red flag-ish, but they also had
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  Speaker 3: some key injuries early. Well, FSU came into this one
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  Speaker 3: pretty healthy, pretty no drama. Mike Norvell said that he
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  Speaker 3: felt like fall camp was clean. I thought it was
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  Speaker 3: a good thing that they were getting him back in
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  Speaker 3: the play-calling chair. And just overall, it was a mixed bag,
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  Speaker 3: third downs being given up. There were some busts, but, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: I felt like if you're Rhett Lashley, you're looking at
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  Speaker 3: that and saying, We have to bring the energy because
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  Speaker 3: if you can be a team like SMU where you
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  Speaker 3: assume they're more talented and all that, if you play
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  Speaker 3: with the effort that New Mexico State did, you're going
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  Speaker 3: to force FSU into some really bad situations. And I
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  Speaker 3: think after the Ashton Daniels interception, we heard the Bluebirds
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  Speaker 3: come out. You get up on FSU early, maybe like 10-0.
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  Speaker 3: Last year, SMU did that to Baylor, and they couldn't
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  Speaker 3: close them out. They were at home and couldn't close
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  Speaker 3: it out. But this year, you get up 10-0, maybe
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  Speaker 3: first quarter. early second quarter, the boo birds might come
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  Speaker 3: out and kind of turn on FSU and you can
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  Speaker 3: harness that and take advantage of it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't know if you realize this or saw this,
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  Speaker 2: but they were booing when Mike Norvell was announced right
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  Speaker 2: before the, with the starting lineups and they, the, the
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  Speaker 2: crowd cheered for the, all the players that were announced,
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  Speaker 2: Deuce and Ashton and everybody. but then they take a
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  Speaker 2: quick pause and then they announced the head coach and
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  Speaker 2: they booed there. And I think it is indicative of
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  Speaker 2: where the fan base is.
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  Speaker 1: They're there. They still support the players. They still showed up.
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  Speaker 1: It was a good crowd. I expected to be a
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  Speaker 1: really good crowd on Monday night.
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  Speaker 2: And I expect there to be a lot of energy
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  Speaker 2: and in it to be pretty juiced, which kind of
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  Speaker 2: goes back to your other point of like, I was
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  Speaker 2: a little surprised the effort wasn't a little bit better
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  Speaker 2: for FSU because last year when they had opponents that
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  Speaker 2: were not very.
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  Speaker 1: Good, they did a good job of taking advantage of
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  Speaker 1: them in Doak.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that's why a lot of people thought
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  Speaker 2: that they would roll to victory and they, they were
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  Speaker 2: a 31 point favorite. But yeah, they, they're not happy
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  Speaker 2: with Mike and I expect them to boo again on
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  Speaker 2: Monday night when Mike Norvell's name is announced to, to
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  Speaker 2: start the game because there's a lot of frustration coming
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  Speaker 2: out of Tallahassee with the way that that game went down.
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  Speaker 2: You mentioned the defensive line specifically, and it felt like
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  Speaker 2: Florida state's got five new offensive linemen. And so I'm
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  Speaker 2: not super shocked that it wasn't the most elite unit
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  Speaker 2: by any means. Now their pass blocking grades were a
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  Speaker 2: lot better than their run blocking grades last week. Um,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of FSU yardage came after contact, which is
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  Speaker 2: maybe a little surprising for a game against New Mexico state, but, uh, they're.
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  Speaker 1: Going to see a better defensive line this week. I would,
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  Speaker 1: I would imagine.
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  Speaker 2: And if, if Florida state can't figure out some of
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  Speaker 2: their offensive line troubles, I could see SMU living in
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  Speaker 2: that backfield, both against the run and the pass.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it really is a defensive line for SMU that
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  Speaker 3: comes into this one feeling like they have more depth
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  Speaker 3: They have talent. They have their defensive ends. I think
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  Speaker 3: Akil Washington's 25. Marcus White's 25. They've been around college
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  Speaker 3: a long, long time. Ira Singleton, a guy who played
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  Speaker 3: for USF last year, is somebody they're excited about. Tavion
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  Speaker 3: Atkinson's a big Juco pickup that they like a lot.
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  Speaker 3: Ja'Kai Lang comes back after being in the backup strong
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  Speaker 3: side defensive end last year. He'll play a lot. They've
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  Speaker 3: got some guys that they really feel like they'll be
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  Speaker 3: able to get after the passer. And then along the interior,
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  Speaker 3: they're probably three deep as far as guys they'll play,
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  Speaker 3: both at nose and defensive tackle. And they're more like
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  Speaker 3: that 2024 group. I just don't know if they have
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  Speaker 3: that star like Elijah Roberts ended up being for SMU.
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  Speaker 3: But you have a lot of talent still on that group.
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  Speaker 3: They feel like they're going to rotate a little bit
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  Speaker 3: more evenly, perhaps. There'll be some guys that separate, but
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  Speaker 3: like anything else, but you'll be deeper into that rotation.
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  Speaker 3: They feel like it will ultimately help them. So I
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  Speaker 3: expect SMU to deploy a wave of defensive linemen against FSU,
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  Speaker 3: especially in that humidity and, who knows, potentially rain, hopefully not.
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  Speaker 3: But you have all those things in Florida in August
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  Speaker 3: and September that you can certainly have on any given night.
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  Speaker 3: But SMU's depth at defensive line I think is going
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  Speaker 3: to show, and they've got an experienced group of linebackers
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  Speaker 3: behind them.
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  Speaker 2: It's probably the position group that worries me the most
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  Speaker 2: if I'm Florida State because of what that offensive line
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  Speaker 2: just showed you last week. Now, again, maybe there were
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  Speaker 2: some motivation things. Again, that frustrates you if you're a fan.
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  Speaker 2: But I would not be surprised if they played a
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  Speaker 2: little bit better. But again, they're playing a lot better competition.
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  Speaker 2: And so what is the net gain or loss there
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  Speaker 2: because of the opponent that you're playing?
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  Speaker 1: The thing that probably worries me second most is the quarterback.
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  Speaker 2: I think Kevin Jennings is undoubtedly a top three, four
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  Speaker 2: QB in this league. you know, I think Mensa, JKS,
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  Speaker 2: and then probably him are kind of right there in
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  Speaker 2: that conversation for.
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  Speaker 1: The best in the conference.
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  Speaker 2: And you had a guy that was not graded very
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  Speaker 2: well last year and, and hadn't go 10 for 13
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  Speaker 2: on third down for, for a crap ton of yards.
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  Speaker 2: If Florida state doesn't figure out, we can talk about trenches.
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  Speaker 2: We can talk about if they don't figure out something
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  Speaker 2: on third down and that, you know, Norvell tried to say, well,
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  Speaker 2: they got the ball out quick and that was disrupting us,
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  Speaker 2: but I don't care how quick they're getting the ball out.
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  Speaker 2: When New Mexico state's quarterback is 10 for 13 on
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  Speaker 2: third down, and converts as much as they did. I
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  Speaker 2: think Kevin Jennings looks at that and says, let me
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  Speaker 2: lick my chops a little bit boys, because those wide
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  Speaker 2: receivers were wide open. I don't care how quick he
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  Speaker 2: was getting the ball out. The pockets were, you know,
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  Speaker 2: so there for, for him to find guys. And I
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  Speaker 2: don't know if that was just too soft of his
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  Speaker 2: own coverage by FSU, or there were some bus and
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  Speaker 2: guys getting beat, but you have a performance like that
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  Speaker 2: again on third down. And this game will get very ugly,
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  Speaker 2: very quickly.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, I'll get right back to the video with Billy.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: But first, if you are shopping for FSU gear or
• 8:39
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• 8:41
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• 8:49
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  Speaker 1: Now back to the interview.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's for Kevin Jennings, you know, you have
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  Speaker 3: Yemir Knight in the slot back. I think that's a
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  Speaker 3: fun matchup for him to think about. And just with
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  Speaker 3: the way FSU's secondary looked, a lot of busts and
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  Speaker 3: kind of disjointed coverage at times. not playing together as
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  Speaker 3: a back end, that's something that stood out to me.
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  Speaker 3: I think they'll get some of that ironed out a
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  Speaker 3: little bit better going into game two for them, so
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  Speaker 3: that's something to note. SMU can involve the tight ends
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  Speaker 3: as well as anyone. Randy Pittman makes his return to FSU.
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  Speaker 3: Then you've got Theo Mellenorstrom, who comes in from Texas
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  Speaker 3: A & M, and they love him. I think he's
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  Speaker 3: poised to really break out and be an NFL draft
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  Speaker 3: pick in the long run. Then you've got a bunch
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  Speaker 3: of talent at outside receiver that hasn't hasn't produced at
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  Speaker 3: the P4 level just yet, but they're betting on it
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  Speaker 3: to and produce in a large way this year that
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  Speaker 3: they're leaning on. Jalen Cooper, Jalen Hale, Yannick Smith, and
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  Speaker 3: a couple of others that I'm sure will be thrown
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  Speaker 3: in the mix there, see what they've got. But you
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  Speaker 3: have a much improved run game with SMU. And if
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  Speaker 3: I'm SMU, I'm running the football. I'm committing to it.
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  Speaker 3: I'm sticking with it. You're looking to get the ground
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  Speaker 3: game going because that's kind of what you've preached, what
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  Speaker 3: you've talked about a lot this offseason is the improvement there.
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  Speaker 3: And you want to kind of nurture this game in
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  Speaker 3: the right way because you SMU should win. I think
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  Speaker 3: they're the more talented team. Obviously, they're picked much higher
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  Speaker 3: in the league. But FSU's had a propensity to step
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  Speaker 3: up in these big games and these big atmospheres and
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  Speaker 3: grab marquee wins. And the rest of it hasn't gone
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  Speaker 3: very well, but it just shows you the flashes that
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  Speaker 3: they can take. So this is an opportunity for Kevin
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  Speaker 3: Jennings to really show the country that they're for real
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  Speaker 3: this year. He's got to play clean. He's got to
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  Speaker 3: be ready to rock and roll. And I think he
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  Speaker 3: will be. And if SMU kind of manages that first
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  Speaker 3: quarter really well, maybe builds a little bit of a lead,
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  Speaker 3: I think they'll be able to get this one done.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Florida State was really good against the run last week.
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  Speaker 1: New Mexico State went away from it.
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  Speaker 2: If you look at their PFF grades, which PFF to
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  Speaker 2: me is not the end-all be-all, but every single one
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  Speaker 2: of their defensive linemen was in solid, like bright green
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  Speaker 2: on run defense.
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  Speaker 1: And then every single one of them was like yellow
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  Speaker 1: to red on defense. past defense.
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  Speaker 2: So it'll be interesting to see if SMU can establish that.
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  Speaker 2: And again, SMU a lot more talent than, uh, New
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  Speaker 2: Mexico state has. And I think they went away from
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  Speaker 2: it pretty quickly and I mean, yeah, we're, we're having
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  Speaker 2: success passing.
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  Speaker 1: So we're going to keep doing it.
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  Speaker 2: Um, on Jennings specifically, how much do you expect? I mean,
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  Speaker 2: and then maybe this coming out of fall camp combined
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  Speaker 2: these two, uh, health overrides overall coming out of, uh,
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  Speaker 2: coming out of fall camp. And also, how much do
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  Speaker 2: you think they try to use Jennings' legs, which can
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  Speaker 2: be a weapon but also can be somewhat dangerous? And
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  Speaker 2: is he fully 100% ready to go with legs too?
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  Speaker 2: Thoughts around how they'll utilize that aspect of his game.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he's fine health-wise. They've managed that finger
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  Speaker 3: thing that happened pretty well, and he was ripping it
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  Speaker 3: pretty well in scrimmage and seven-on-seven and things like that.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm not too worried about that. You have his
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  Speaker 3: legs that should be able to be used. I think
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  Speaker 3: SMU is going to try to maybe get out of
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  Speaker 3: a lot of games without using those just because you
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  Speaker 3: want to keep them healthy. It's a very clear-cut number
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  Speaker 3: one guy that they kind of have built this team around,
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  Speaker 3: and he does some unique things. And when they need
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  Speaker 3: him to use those legs, they need it to hit.
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  Speaker 3: You look a couple years back, that 40-yard touchdown run
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  Speaker 3: against Louisville, some of the things that he's able to
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  Speaker 3: do as far as escaping and extending He didn't have
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  Speaker 3: that last year because he was playing on that bum
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  Speaker 3: foot ankle. So now you're able to get him in
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  Speaker 3: the right spot where he can add that a little
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  Speaker 3: bit at the same time they want to manage it
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  Speaker 3: well because they've got to keep that guy healthy.
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  Speaker 2: FSU, you mentioned, and you know this and I've talked
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  Speaker 2: about this, but FSU does have weapons. And you think
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  Speaker 2: about Deuce Robinson and Mekhi Dansey both led the ACC
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  Speaker 2: one and two. And yards per reception last year, both
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  Speaker 2: of them, you know, I mean, they combined for over
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  Speaker 2: a hundred yards last, last week too, or two days ago. Um, they,
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  Speaker 2: the Chrome was really good. They had two running backs
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  Speaker 2: go for a ton of yards too on the ground.
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  Speaker 2: So they do have weapons and they do have guys
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  Speaker 2: that can make plays there. What's the biggest concern for SMU?
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  Speaker 2: Is it, is it one of those position groups? Is
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  Speaker 2: it both of them?
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  Speaker 1: Like what, what's the concern if you're SMU going into
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  Speaker 1: this one?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the concern is allowing that run game
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  Speaker 3: to get going, number one, because that can allow you
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  Speaker 3: to play with balance. I don't think Ashton Daniels, somebody
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  Speaker 3: that SMU has faced before when he was back at Stanford,
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  Speaker 3: I don't think he's somebody that necessarily worries them in
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  Speaker 3: that sense. But they do know he's talented. He's got
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  Speaker 3: some of the tools and just ability to turn it
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  Speaker 3: on and play well. He did that a little bit
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  Speaker 3: at Auburn last year. You see the flashes of how
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  Speaker 3: he can manage a game. that stuff that you don't
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  Speaker 3: want to see him get in a rhythm. So, you know,
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  Speaker 3: SMU actually absolutely has a lot of respect for obviously
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  Speaker 3: Deuce Robinson, Makai Danzy, and what they can bring to
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  Speaker 3: the table. But, you know, Ashton Daniels is, is kind
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  Speaker 3: of that guy that if, if they get rolling with
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  Speaker 3: the run game and they can get him into a rhythm,
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  Speaker 3: that's SMU does not want this to be some shootout
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  Speaker 3: fun Monday night game. They need this to be kind
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  Speaker 3: of not a dominant showing, but, But they need to
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  Speaker 3: be able to control Ashton Daniels. They did that at
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  Speaker 3: Stanford a couple years ago. That's a different program story,
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  Speaker 3: like talent level, all of those things around him then.
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  Speaker 3: And he was very young and green. But when you
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  Speaker 3: fast forward now, he's seen a lot. He's been in
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  Speaker 3: a lot of environments. You don't want to have him
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  Speaker 3: build some confidence and see where that takes him. You
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  Speaker 3: need to kind of have that shut down relatively early.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, massive game really for both teams when you think
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  Speaker 2: about Florida State not in a good mood because they
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  Speaker 2: couldn't handle things the way that they probably should have
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  Speaker 2: last week. And all the conversation and concern around Norvell's
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  Speaker 2: seat and tenure and all that. Winning against SMU would
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  Speaker 2: quiet a lot of that, at least for the week.
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  Speaker 2: Buy you a little bit of a reprieve. And then
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  Speaker 2: for SMU too, you are one of the favorites to
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: go to Charlotte and compete for the ACC championship and
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: thus a playoff spot. If you were to drop to
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: an FSU team that looks like they're going to be
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: maybe fighting for bowl eligibility, you start to look at
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: the rest of the schedule and you say, okay, well,
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: you've got the Notre Dame game, you've got the Louisville
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: game coming up. It gets a lot tougher for SMU
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: from their perspective to think, yeah, they're an actual competitor
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: for more than just eight or nine wins, right? And
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: so it's huge for both teams in that regard. Zoom
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: in now just a little bit. I think the most
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: underrated game in this conference, maybe the most important game
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: in the conference all year, is coming up in just
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: a couple of weeks. I think that Louisville game may
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: end up deciding who goes to Charlotte to maybe see
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: Miami in the ACC championship. And so we're going to
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: find out a ton about this SMU team really freaking early.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: 100%. I mean, that Louisville game, there is the line
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: to walk here of, hey, you can actually drop this
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: game against Florida State. You're not really going to sweat,
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: you know, you losing a tiebreaker to FSU to make
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: the conference championship game. It's one of those things. But
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: at the same time, that Louisville game is absolutely one
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: that you can't drop because their schedule is, I mean,
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: pretty reasonable. And that's kind of their big game on
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: the schedule the rest of the way. That's their first
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: two games, two, three games, at least two of the
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: first three games for Louisville are games that you look
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: at for them. And those are their college football playoff
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: hopes or statements, seeding, whatever. And SMU kind of similar
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: in a sense, but SMU also has Cal, Virginia, Notre
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: Dame up ahead and others. With Louisville, you have this
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: big opportunity to make a statement early and kind of
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: be riding the high. Is Lincoln Keenholz the real deal
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: right away or does it take a minute? Or does
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: Jeff Brom finally punch up and win all the games
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: he's supposed to? Because that's something they haven't necessarily done
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: all too much of at Louisville lately. So They've got
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: to figure all that out really quickly. I kind of
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: like Louisville against Ole Miss. A lot of changes over
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: there for the Rebs, but at the same time, they
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: have a group that defensively that front seven will be
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: pretty tough to face for a first-time starter week one.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: But yeah, the SMU story, if they get out of
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: September 3-1, that's a win. If they get out 4-0,
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: that's a big-time win. But they need that that one,
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: if anything, to be Florida State. They don't need it
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: to be Louisville.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they need the, I mean, you're talking about a
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: team that they're 4-0, man, they're easily, I think, in
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: the top 15 in the country and flirting with that
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: top 10 based on what other results have looked like
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: because they would have a couple of premier-type wins.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: Road wins.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, massive, massive for them in both of them.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: So do you, it's early in the week, and so
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: things can change, but do you have a score in
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: this one yet?
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think SMU's playbook to win, and I always
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: kind of, when I do think SMU's going to win,
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: I pick them generally to hit 30 points because that's
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: just what they've done when they've won games in the
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: Rat Lashley era. They've not won many that they've been
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: under 30. I got SMU 34, FSU 27. I think,
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: I think it's like maybe like late score makes it close,
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: but I think SMU is going to jump out and
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: be ready to go. I mean, I will say this
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: and it's cliche, it's all the things, but this team
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: acts totally different than last year's team about how they
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: talk about things, how they approach this year. They're very
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: motivated with the way things ended with losses to, you know,
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: like wake, but especially Cal, all of those things. And
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: I think they're, they've got a mindset that at least
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: on watching it up close, it really stands out to us.
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: So we'll see how it works, but I think they've,
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: they've got some special brewing in.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Dallas on that.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: And I do think SMU wins. I, I, I'm kind
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: of with you. Like, I don't necessarily know that I
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: expect like a full on blowout. I do think there's
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: a disaster scenario. Like if I, if I'm picking probabilities,
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: like close game in SMU roles, like, then Florida state
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: rolls like that.
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: Kind of be the way that I, I would be
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: pretty surprised if it went the other way, but, uh,
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: I know I said that was the last thing, but
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: last thing Florida state was a two and a half
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: point dog, like a week ago, they look terrible against
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: New Mexico state.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: And it's only like three and a half points. Now,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: does it surprise you? The spread didn't move a little
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: bit more SMU's way.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: No, not at all. Honestly. I mean, one Vegas, like they,
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: they just, they somehow know a little bit from time
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: to time, but I'm sure they're baiting, baiting a little bit.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: It'd be interesting to see if that line moves closer
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: to camp. i think that maybe factors in a little
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: bit with it being all the way on monday yeah
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: but yeah it doesn't surprise me i this is not
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: easy to do i mean i don't think you know
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: the acc gets a bad rap sometimes because they beat
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: each other up like last year but it's a tough
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: league still. You know, I, I think to, you know,
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: for the most part, unless you're playing BC or Stanford, um,
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: it's a difficult league to go get wins. And I
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: think it should get a little bit more recognition. It'd
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: be nice if some of the top teams in the
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: conference showed up week one to week 12, uh, all
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: year and, and went through it and rolled through it. Like, um,
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: you would hope some of the top teams would, so
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: you get a little bit more playoff buzz, but Yeah,
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: I mean, I'm not too surprised by that line. I
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: think this one has dogfight written all over it, but SMU,
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: I think, has a better team, a better roster, a
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: better culture right now.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: Billy Ambati on the Pony Express. We're going to follow
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: you on social media. What do you got coming this week.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: Leading up to the game? Yeah, we've got a lot
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: going on at BillyEmbody, E-M-B-O-D-Y, and go to OnThePonyExpress.com. We'll
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: be packed with all the preview, all the final preseason thoughts,
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: some recruiting news and nuggets, so plenty to keep us
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: all busy over there. Awesome.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Appreciate you, buddy.
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: Thanks so much.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: Appreciate Billy for his time in chatting with us today. Again,
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: go check out the OnThePonyExpress website. Go check him out
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: on social media as well. Appreciate our friends over at PricePix.
• 21:17
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• 21:19
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• 21:22
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• 21:26
  Speaker 2: We will see you guys soon on ACC Football Addiction.